Sally Haley (June 29, 1908 – September 1, 2007) was an American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. Her career spanned much of the 20th century and she is credited for helping to expand the emerging art scene in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, during the middle of the century. Much of her work was an application of

egg tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

, a technique which leaves a flat, brushless surface. She preferred domestic subjects and interior spaces with hints of the indoor or outdoor space that lay beyond. Sally Haley was a native in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

. She attended

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. She moved across the country to Portland in 1947 with her husband, the late Michele Russo, who was also an artist. A native of Bridgeport, Conn., Haley attended

and moved to Portland in 1947 with her husband. Haley and Russo were a fiery, passionate couple, within a dedicated subculture of artists during Portland's mid-20th century. That group helped create a small but dynamic art scene. Like Haley and Russo, those artists, including Carl and Hilda Morris, Louis Bunce and William Givler, came from or often traveled to the East Coast, putting a vivid stamp on the intellectual climate of a seemingly provincial art scene geographically cut off from the art world's major centers. Russo died in 2004. Haley and her husband were part of a group of artists who helped to create a small art scene in Portland, which are now a part of the city's landscape. Haley herself was widely known and praised by

art critics An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

for her

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

and

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

paintings. She held many solo and group exhibitions throughout her long career. She has been honored twice with retrospectives, one at the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum becam ...

in 1975, which holds her work in their collection, and another at Marylhurst College in 1993. Haley received the prestigious Oregon Governor's Award for the Arts, in 1989. Her work is also part of many public and private collections, including the

Tacoma Art Museum The Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) is an art museum in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It focuses primarily on the art and artists from the Pacific Northwest and broader western region of the U.S. Founded in 1935, the museum has strong roots in the c ...

, Washington; The Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon; the American Telephone and Telegraph Company of New York, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, California; and Kaiser Foundation and Portland Civic Auditorium in Oregon. Haley was one of the muralists involved in painting post office murals as part of the

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

. She completed the twelve-foot-long mural, ''Mail-The Connecting Link'', in

McConnelsville, Ohio McConnelsville is a village in Morgan County, Ohio, United States located 21 miles southeast of Zanesville and 26 miles northwest of Marietta. The population was 1,784 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. As of October ...

, in 1938. While her largest work, depicting the outdoors was not her favored subject matter. She preferred domestic subjects and interior spaces with hints of the indoor or outdoor space that lay beyond. Sally Haley died at an

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is s ...

facility in

, on September 1, 2007, at the age of 99. She was survived by two sons, Gian and Michael.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haley, Sally Artists from Bridgeport, Connecticut Artists from Portland, Oregon Yale University alumni 1908 births 2007 deaths Painters from Oregon 20th-century American painters Painters from Connecticut American muralists People of the New Deal arts projects 20th-century American women painters American women muralists 21st-century American women