Dora Natella was raised and educated in Italy; she studied sculpture in the classical tradition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, Italy. Later she moved to the United States for advanced studies in bronze casting techniques and for the opportunity to immerse herself in a new culture with fewer direct connections to a classical past. She went on to earn an MFA in sculpture at Western Michigan University, and has continued a practice that includes both teaching at the collegiate level as well as her own work in the studio. Natella presently serves on the faculty of Indiana University, South Bend. In her work, she maintains an allegiance to a legacy of the figurative tradition from the Renaissance but with openness to contemporary modes of expression.