Paula Bellacera
artist
About Paula Bellacera
Paula Bellacera is an award-winning artist, accomplished in a wide variety of media. Since 1990 Bellacera has exhibited work domestically and internationally with over 40 solo/feature shows in cities such as: Santa Fe, Chicago, Katmandu, San Francisco, Denver, and Seattle. In 2014 she had a solo exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum in Eureka, CA. She has won several awards and has been featured in exhibition catalogs, books, and magazines. Bellacera has received public art grants and has been commissioned to create collections of work.
Bellacera is a Sacramento native and has a fascinating career path which began in the 1970s by earning the first women’s studies degree at CSU, Sacramento. She went on to study animal behavior in the swamps of Louisiana and received a PhD in experimental psychology from Tulane University. She studied art and photography at SCC, CSUS, and UCD as well as attended numerous workshops.
Bellacera’s fascination with animals and the hours she studied their unique characteristics in the wild gave voice to her artwork. She explores how domestic and wild animals literally and metaphorically mirror human nature reminding us that we share emotions and DNA.
She has long supported arts communities. She was a founding member of Sacramento’s Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, curator for The Dark Room Gallery, commissioner for West Sacramento’s Arts and Historic Preservation Commission, committee member for Sac Open Studios, and currently volunteers as the newsletter creator for the Mills Station Arts & Culture Center. She has served on artist panels, given presentations, and curated and judged group shows.
About My Chop
In Western culture, it’s common for an artist to sign or initial her name on pieces of original artwork. In Eastern culture it’s customary for an artist to create a chop, an identifying symbol. All my sculptures are “signed” with my chop. My initials before marriage were PAW which I thought was very cool, like a cat’s paw. My married name starts with a “B” which magically turned into a heart!
Exhibition Catalogs
Click titles for more information
Rabbits & Raptors
Exhibition catalog of Paula Bellacera's drawings and sculptures in her "Rabbits & Raptors" exhibition at the Pence Gallery in Davis, CA
Taking Flight
Exhibition catalog of avian drawings and sculptures from Paula Bellacera's "Taking Flight" exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum of Art.