Sabra Segal

Sabra Segal, multi-media artist/teacher/writer/actress, born January 10, 1938, in Boston, MA, passed away peacefully at home on March 16, 2024, in Woodstock, NY. Predeceased by her parents, Harry and Frances (Adler) Segal and her sister, Gloria Davis-Welsted, she is survived by her niece, Shaari Ergas, of San Francisco, CA.

Beginning at an early age, Ms. Segal lived a life fully dedicated to her art. She received her BFA from the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University and MA/MFA from the School of Art, University of Wisconsin at Madison, WI.  She also studied at Elmira College, Boston Museum School, MIT School of Architecture, and San Francisco Art Institute. By invitation, Sabra assisted clay art master Paulus Berensohn. She also traveled to Mexico, where she learned to hand build clay with native women.

Sabra lectured at the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA, and taught at Cambridge (MA) Adult Education Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, and for “Artists in the Schools,” a collaborative program between Onteora Central School District, Boiceville, NY, and Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. Sabra’s most cherished teaching assignment was for the Lighthouse School for the Blind in NYC, during a time when she developed a long friendship with Trisha Brown.

Sabra’s poem broadsheet, “The Green Leaf of Time,” is in the permanent Wexner Collection of the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, while her book of poems, “To All Things Alive,” is part of the Rare Books Collection of the Library of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. Two of Ms. Segal’s paintings are also placed in foreign embassy offices in Washington, DC.

Ms. Segal’s work has been shown in multiple galleries throughout the US and Canada, including DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; Schenectady (NY) Museum; San Francisco Art Museum, Kleinert Art Center, Woodstock, NY, and Albany (NY) Institute of History & Art. Her drawings have been published in The New Yorker, San Francisco and MIT Literary Magazines, Bostonia, Audience, and East West Journal. Inventor of “poem drawings” in 1975, her watercolor drawings and prose cards were published by H. George Caspari, New York, NY. More recently, Sabra had been exhibiting at Vassar and Bard College fairs, and outdoor markets located in High Falls and Woodstock, NY, where her poem-cards, bead jewelry, clay face pins, collages, drawings, and paintings were well-received.For more than 20 years, Sabra enjoyed and excelled at roller skate dancing. She was also especially proud of her voiceover book recordings for Vassar College, and her appearance in several independent films, including The Road to Wellville.

Always up for an adventure and creative discussion, Sabra leaves behind devoted friends and admirers, and much inspired and original work. In her memory, all are invited to gather for a Celebration of Life on Sunday, April 14, 2024, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the Woodstock Community Center. Tributes to Sabra may be placed on: https://www.lasherfh.com/obituary/Sabra-Segal.

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