Paula Bellacera: Extraordinary Views of Two Communities – Northern and Southern California

Paula Bellacera and Mark Siprut join hands across California to visually represent their home cities. Using different types of cameras and manipulation techniques, each photographer portrays their city’s historical context, landscape, iconic landmarks, and architecture. In the north, Bellacera crafts etheric images from manipulated Polaroids of the Sacramento area, and in the south, Siprut creates magical, immersive 360˚ digital photographs of the San Diego region. These photographs will take you on a geographical, cultural, and personal journey of California.

Posted in Exhibits: Previous

Paula Bellacera

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Bio

Sacramento native Paula Bellacera is a founding member of the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center Gallery and has experimented with various photographic techniques. While visiting the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, she became enamored with Polaroid Manipulation (featured in this exhibition). Armed with her trusty Polaroid SX-70 camera and Time Zero film, she captured images everywhere she went, from her backyard to the Himalayas. Sadly, Polaroid stopped making this film in 2006. However, Ms. Bellacera has thousands of images from her travels.

In the late 1990s, Ms. Bellacera began a series of photo-based mixed media works depicting the Sacramento area’s structures, landscapes, and communities. Her artwork is not a documentation of these subjects but an exploration of memories and experiences shared by generations. Her images often express nostalgia in an attempt to capture the moment before these favorite locations fall victim to the ravages of time, demolition, or redevelopment.

Technique

Ms. Bellacera’s technique produces unique and alluring images that blur the lines between photography and painting. She begins with Polaroid SX-70 photographs, physically manipulating the emulsion before enlarging and printing them. Her works on paper are uniquely embellished with mixed media.

Ms. Bellacera received her art and photographic training at various colleges and universities in Northern California after completing a Ph.D. in experimental psychology at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Since 1990, she has been exhibiting her work domestically and internationally, including in Chicago, Katmandu, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Seattle. She has won several awards and has been published in books and magazines. She has received public art grants and been commissioned to create entire collections of work. Her pieces are included in numerous public and private collections. In addition to photography, Ms. Bellacera’s artwork includes sculptures, paintings, and drawings.

Visit at paulabellacera.com

Details

Date: September 11, 2024 to October 5, 2024
Gallery Space: Main Gallery
2nd Saturday Opening: September 14, 2024, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Artist Reception: September 15, 2024, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM