Inspired by classical sculpture, Bela Bacsi works in marble and bronze that combine styles and subject matter of realistic figure and abstraction.  He was born in Gyor, Hungary in 1956, and came to an area near Akron, Ohio, with his family in 1956 at the time of the Hungarian Revolution.  As a young man, he left home and returned to Europe where, in his words, he "bummed around."

He decided to become a stone carver, which was a family tradition as several of his uncles in Hungary had worked in that profession with one uncle specializing in the restoration of castles.  To get training, he worked for minimum wage in a Cleveland architectural firm to learn plaster mould making, and shortly after was head of the company's sculpture department.  In 1978, he spent time in the small town of Pietrasanta, Italy, mecca for stone sculptors, and worked at the studio of Ferdinando Palla, a master of architectural ornamentation who later was responsible for the decorative stone work of the Getty Museum in Malibu.

Back in Cleveland, Bacsi worked in a bronze foundry for two years, and then returned to Pietrasanta to study classic techniques of marble with Ledo Tarterelle and Mauro Spadacchini, both masters from whom he learned the ancient ways of stone carving. Although Bacsi sometimes does sculpture in bronze, his great love is working with marble. "There is a fluidity, a meditative quality to picking up a four and a half pound hammer or a point chisel and chipping away at stone."

From the mid 1980s, Bacsi has taught sculpting including from his studio in Santa Barbara. Most of his classes are clay modeling, but he does teach stone sculpture to advanced students.

In May, 2001, Bela Bacsi was awarded the Gold Medal in Sculpture by the California Art Club for his "Driver of the Wheel," a human form emerging from a disk.

Source: "Bela Bacsi Artist and Master Craftsman" by Molly Siple.  CALIFORNIA ART CLUB NEWSLETTER, December 2001.

Béla Bácsi was born in Gyor, Hungary.  At age six, he and his family moved to the United States.  Continuing the family's long tradition as stone carvers, Bácsi took an interest in carving at an early age.

Essentially self-taught, in 1978, Bácsi gained employment at the Studio Ferdinando Palla in Pietrasanta, Italy, where he became an "ornamentista" or fine detail carver.

Returning to the U.S. and settling in Cleveland, Ohio, he then worked as an architectural ornamental master designer at Fischer and Jirouch Architectural Ornamentation and as a bronze foundryman at the nationally acclaimed Studio Foundry.  Eventually, Bácsi opened his own sculpture studio and now lives and works in Santa Barbara, California.

In 1999,Bácsi was awarded both the Gold Medal and Maurice B. Hexter Prize at the National Sculpture Society Members' Exhibition in New York City.  He received the California Art Club Gold Medal for Best Sculpture at the 91st Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition in 2001.  He won the California Art Club Gold Medal for best Sculpture again at the 96th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition in 2007.

Bácsi holds a California Community Colleges teaching certificate for adult education programs and has taught at Santa Barbara City College and offers private classes.  In addition, he serves as an adviser to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docents' Council.

Béla Bácsi is a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society and a Signature Artist Member of the California Art Club.