Sally Neal: Rage Against the Machine

By Corin Blust
Sun contributor
Leelanau County activist Sally Neal’s paintings are full of strikingly vibrant colors and candid messages. They emit a raw, emotional feeling that speaks of traditional Mexican art, Willem DeKooning’s Woman paintings, and the later works of Pablo Picasso. Her acrylic canvasses are not classically beautiful in the sense that the works of Rembrandt or Michelangelo are beautiful, but, like Sally herself, they have a certain strength about them that is irresistible.

“My favorite term is ‘pretty is ubiquitous’ — pretty is everywhere,” says Sally. “That’s my motto — I don’t need the paint to be pretty, nor can I make it pretty.”
Sally grew up in what she calls “an artsy family” but did not begin painting until later in life. Instead, she incorporated creativity into her life through her business, “Irreverence,” a mainstay in downtown Traverse City for many years. A few years ago a neighbor introduced her to the Tuesday Morning painting group, a gathering of local residents who meet and paint together at the Old Art Building in Leland. She began coming to the group and has since created a series of remarkable paintings without formal training.
“There are lots of very fine artists there at the Tuesday Morning painting group. I could never be a fine painter, nor do I ever want to work that hard, nor do I care,” said Sally. “I like to just play in paint and express myself however I feel with the paint.”
She never paints “landscapes, lakescapes, barns or fishtowns.” Sally would rather concern herself with subject matter that lies closer to her heart, such as politics, social injustice, and creating social awareness, because “activism is always on the surface” of her mind.
Sally has been an involved member of every community she has lived in, always willing to fight for justice. “I don’t know why I feel so strongly,” she told me, “ever since I was a little kid I was aware of injustice — racism in my neighborhood, sexism as I got older — this awareness set into feeling that there is a lot of injustice in this world.” And Sally certainly does fight to heal this injustice for the next generation that will occupy this world.
Her involvement in social activism started while she was living in downstate Flint. A member of the community there asked her to talk to local officials about sign pollution, which is “funny because now I contribute quite a bit to sign pollution,” she remembers with a chuckle. In Flint, Sally became acquainted with fellow activist Michael Moore. “I took my kid out of school and we marched on Consumer’s Power — I think it was against nukes,” she recalled. Sally has never looked back, though she does think she gets “a lot more credit than I deserve,” because she is so visible in our community.
Louise Bourgeois is an artist whose drive and strength is a huge inspiration to Sally. Bourgeois, still creating art today at 96, is known for her organic, sexually and politically charged sculptural work. She is also known for her refusal to let her gender get in the way of what she wants to create. This is remarkable because even today, the art world is a place where women are seldom considered capable of producing thoughtful or shocking art. “I love her! What a role model!” says Sally. “She’s not afraid to [speak out and] do what she wants!”
Quite a bit of Sally’s art has been concerned with the military occupation of Iraq, a situation that she believes is an outrage. “It isn’t just me,” she said, “it’s probably 80 percent of the American population that thinks and knows we are going in the wrong direction … As a mother, I could not bear it if any of my children were over there. If they came back maimed — spiritually, emotionally, or physically — it would be horrible.” She hopes that when people see her art they will be inspired to do something to help heal this terrible situation.

Warmonster: Who Would Jesus Bomb? can be seen at the InsideOut Gallery in Traverse City. Sally also has one work in the juried exhibition currently on display at Samuel’s restaurant in Sutton’s Bay. Her work will also be featured in a fundraiser for the Old Art Building in Leland on July 25 from 5-8 p.m.