Welcome to the website of artist,
Paul Bellardo
Paul Bellardo was born in Hartford, Conn. on February 5, 1924. Today, at 88, Paul is an artist who possesses a lifetime of artistic experience and talent. Anyone familiar with his work will attest, Paul has always been on the cutting edge when it comes to his creative talent. It is not simply the expertise he possesses in creating a finished work, but more importantly, the imaginative and detailed designs he has that continually make his work fresh, innovative, and alive. Paul is one artist who often times delivers a whimsical side to his pieces, yet he still manages to keep his art totally grounded with an earthy quality.
While stationed in the South during the army in 1945, Paul accidently stumbled into the Young Men's Hebrew Association ceramics studio in New Orleans. That experience was truly the beginning of Paul's life-long passion. He went on from there to graduate from the Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts with the highest honors after a year of post graduate work and teaching for ten years at the Museum School. Among his many early accolades was a travel scholarship from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation for his ceramic creations.
Paul's first one-man-show was in 1965 at the DeCordova Museum of Fine Arts in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It was at this showing that18 pieces of Paul's work were purchased by Walter P. Chrysler for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. This success was quickly followed by shows at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, and the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts.
Paul opened his open ceramics studio - shop - and gallery in Provincetown, Mass. Paul's major claim to fame, however, was for a record-breaking 35 years as owner of a landmark gallery of contemporary arts and crafts in New York City's West Village.
Unfortunately, Bellardo Ltd. was closed permanently when Paul decided it was time to retire. That was indeed a sad day for an entire generation of New Yorker's who knew and loved Paul and his neighborhood gallery. For Paul, relaxing in the warm California sun lasted only so long. In short order, Paul was back at creating his art; the thing he loves so passionately and has always been so very good at!
Today, Paul's creations are in private collections worldwide; as well as in several prestigious museums. Most recently, several pieces of Paul's work were acquired by the New Orleans Museum of Art, as a part of their permanent collection. At present, Paul works out of Silica Studios in Palm Springs and he is represented by several fine galleries in the Desert Cities area.
