ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
California artist, Sally Ruddy, enjoys a distinguished career at both national and international levels. She’s a Signature member of the prestigious National Association of Women Artists and an Elected Member Audubon Artists Incorporated. Several public collections holding her artwork are; Kaiser Permanente Hospital (Modesto, CA), California State University Stanislaus (Stockton and Turlock campuses), the Museum of New Mexico (Santa Fe, NM), the Oakland Museum Department of History (Oakland, CA) and the State of Hawaii Department of Homeland Security (Kahului, HI), to name a select few. Ruddy’s artwork is also held in numerous private collections spanning the globe.
Ruddy’s artwork was selected for exhibition in the ArtExpo New York (2025), Art Santa Fe (2025), Red Dot Miami (2024), and the London Art Biennale (2017, 2013) where she received the ‘Honorable Mention for Technical Merit’ award. She also was selected to exhibit in the American Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan during 1999 and 2000. For the past twenty plus years Ruddy’s artwork has been in annual solo exhibitions in New York City. Other solo exhibitions include the Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts in Plantation, Florida (2008), at California State University, Stanislaus, in conjunction with the theater presentation of The Vagina Monologues (2002), and Merced College Art Gallery (1992). In 1999, her artwork was commissioned by the United States Postal Service for a Commemorative Cachet, a first cover envelope, for the unveiling of the US Postage Stamp titled, “Honoring Those Who Served”.
Select publications featuring Ruddy’s artwork are Art In America (2025), ARTnews (2025), AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR (2020), The New York Art World (May 2006), the NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL GALLERY GUIDE (Collector’s Edition September 2004), ‘The Continuum Encyclopedia of ANIMAL SYMBOLISM IN ART’ (Hope B. Werness Ph.D.), TALKARTS (Winter 2002), and CATALIST Magazine (A Red Rose Publication, 1996). Some of the galleries that have represented Ruddy’s artwork are The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery (New York, NY), the Mistlin Gallery (Modesto, CA), The Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Sales and Rental Gallery (Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA), and The Richardson Gallery (Reno, NV).
Statement
ARTIST STATEMENT
It is with a sincere tenderness towards humanity and a reverence for nature that I create my paintings. I live on a small walnut ranch in Waterford, California, a quiet farming community. I was born in California, but raised in Reno, Nevada, where landscapes were barren, and space was wide. Childhood summers at Lake Tahoe developed in me a great love of nature. In 1967, I returned to California. I graduated cum laude from California State University, Stanislaus, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art, with a concentration in painting. I also took post-baccalaureate studies at the College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland, CA.
The expressionistic qualities of the works of Vincent Van Gogh inspired my work, especially in the early stage of my career. Other artists who have interested me are Botticelli, Bonnard, Gauguin, and Alice Neel, and more recently, the decorative qualities of Gustav Klimt’s work and Wolf Kahn.
I work both from direct observation of nature and from imagination. My work is about color and feelings. The thrill for me in painting lies in the countless possibilities of the interjection of a single stroke of color, upon color. I strive for spirituality in my work. The piece is not finished until it has a certain “presence” about it. For inspiration, I turn to my personal environment, reflecting my intimate world. My art is my effort to capture a moment and preserve the uniqueness of it. It’s not just about me making art; it is about honoring this place in the world where I live.