Bela Sandoval Lafferty is a Brasilian American artist and landscape designer based in coastal California. Her work is informed by ecology, restoration practices of progeny, and herbalism. She holds an Art Minor and Sociology degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, her education rooted in understanding how inherited systems shape our relationship to land and to one another.
Her practice reflects on stewardship, extraction, and care, proposing art and landscape as a site of attentive looking: a place to hold complexity, reckon with damage, and imagine reciprocal ways of living
Her work is an inquiry into which plants humans have made into salves and which have been made into poisons, and how the mountains fall into the sea.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
University of California, Santa Barbara
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology
Minor in Portuguese, Minor in Art
Dean’s Honors (College of Letters and Sciences)
Santa Barbara City College
Certificate of Permaculture Design
Teaching & Research
Oxnard School District
Beekeeping and Pollinators Summer Lecture Series
University of California, Santa Barbara
Printmaking Teaching Assistant, nominated for Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award
University of California Natural Reserve System
Symposium of Undergraduate Research in Botanical Archival
Awards, Honors, and Press
Carpinteria Magazine Feature: Nov. 2025
Interviewed and photographed for Carpinteria Magazine for work managing the bee pollinator program for Santa Barbara Hives
Surfer Magazine: Artist Feature: Oct 2025, Portugal
Interviewed and photographed for Surfer Magazine for an international sculpture commission at Gliding Barnacles festival
Anderson Ranch: Scholarship: July 2025, Colorado
Received an artists grant to attend Adrian Fernandez’s Trimdimensional Volumes Through Metal Fabrication during Anderson Ranch’s 2025 summer sculpture cohort
Aedra Fine Arts, Artist Feature: March 2024, Atlanta
Selected for a juried group exhibition, published in the Aedra catalogue (print and available online)
Santa Barbara Magazine, Artist Feature: March 2024
Selected by the Cassandria Blackmore Gallery to be featured on the Santa Barbara Magazine social media to highlight emerging artists
UCSB Humanities and Fine Arts Student Spotlight
Recognized and interviewed by the HFA department for studio work on environmentally-conscious creative projects. Watch interview here
Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award, University of California Santa Barbara
Nominated by students and faculty for the Excellence in Teaching Award as a result of teaching performance in the analog printmaking studios
University of California, Santa Barbara Deans Honors 2018
Honored by College of Letters and Sciences for excellence in academic performance in the Art Minor and Sociology Major
Exhibitions, Residencies, & Commissions
Eden: Mulch
June 2026, San Clemente, California
Selected for a curated 4 artist group show
Steel, aluminum, plexiglass, and botanical work shown
Love is Everywhere: Figueira da Foz, Portugal
September 2025: Portugal
Received a grant by an international cultural festival to create a memorial sculpture for recent suicide victims
Organized a memorial procession with the live sculpture installation
Tridimensional Volumes through Metal Fabrication: Anderson Ranch
July 2025, Aspen Colorado
Selected for a scholarship to join the Summer sculpture cohort at Anderson Ranch
Designed and fabricated steel sculpture by welding, forging, molding, and wiring
Chosen for a mentorship program with professor Adrián Fernández
Selected work chosen for the Aspen Auction
LIGHTLY // LEVEMENTE: Solo Exhibition, Mollusk
July 2024, Santa Barbara
Selected by Mollusk curator to have an exhibition of steel, acrylic, and motorized projection pieces in the Santa Barbara gallery
Featured article for Mollusk West Coast
Stop Making Sense: Gliding Barnacles Festival
September 2023, Figueira da Foz, Portugal
Selected to display a motorized wood and acrylic sculpture at an international cultural festival
Performed a live sculpture installation throughout the course of 3 days
Residency: Atelie Contempoarte
August 2023, São Paulo, Brasil
Created art alongside a local Brazilian cohort
Focused on research and fabrication of acrylic pieces
Artist Workshop: Come What May Festival
May 2023, Santa Maria
Selected to display printmaking, ceramics, and painting
Performed a live painting
Taught a creativity and painting workshop
Gardening II: Solo Art Exhibition, Elsie’s
January 2023, Santa Barbara
Independently organized exhibition of printmaking, painting, and ceramic work
Gardening: Solo Art Exhibition, CAW Gallery
October 2022, Santa Barbara
Jury selected solo exhibition with large scale metal sculpture work, preserved plants, ceramics, and printmaking
Received funding from the Pulitzer Family Foundation
Landscapes: Solo Exhibition, The Glassbox Gallery
July 2019, University of California, Santa Barbara
Show proposal selected by a faculty jury
Ceramic, landscape paintings, and installation work
Rituals: Solo Exhibition, The Glassbox Gallery
November 2018, University of California, Santa Barbara
Show proposal selected by a faculty jury
Photography, installation, and ceramic work
Attendance of over 100 faculty and students