SANDRA SEVERSON

Sandra Severson grew up immersed in the Philadelphia art scene as the daughter of noted artists Gerardo and Edith Belfiore. Under the tutelage of her parents, she won the Henry Coscia Award for Painting at Da Vinci Art Alliance and Third Prize in the Philadelphia Teen Art Competition at the age of 13. Her deep love of horses and other animals led her to move to the family farm in 1980, where she developed hands-on skills and anatomical knowledge of her equestrian subjects as a horse owner/rider, 4H leader and Horse Show Mother. After studying drawing and portraiture at PAFA and pursuing an opportunity to study with Nelson Shanks, she was accepted to show at the Kentucky Derby Museum and the International Museum of the Horse, becoming an associate member of the American Academy of Equine Art. Sandra’s paintings have appeared on the covers of the Chronicle of the Horse, Oasis magazine and the American Lipizzan Registry.

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Alternative art shown under her maiden name of Belfiore won her First Prize for Painting at Woodmere Art Museum and the Jamison Award at Wayne Art Center.  Internationally, Sandra won First Prize at Corso Nationale Arte Figurativa in Salerno, Italy, and has been commissioned to paint the British steeplechase horse Tagamet, Brazilian cutting horse champion Magella, and other portraits in Belgium and Morocco. 

Sandra has had solo shows at the American Artist Gallery, the American College, and Chester County Art Association. She is featured in the book, “The Four Seasons of Chester County; The Artists”. 

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Sandra’s paintings have been selected for the 2013 Dressage at Devon Poster and the 2015 poster for the Devon Horse Show.

While painting technique and composition are important to Sandra’s work, the pivotal factor is joy, laughter and connection with the profound beings that we call animals.