Bora Sitar is an artist, art historian, and art mentor living in Boston and Prague.
She maintained a mostly private solitary art practice until three years ago, when a move to Boston allowed her to retreat into a full-time artist’s life. She works out of her SoWa Art Studio in Boston’s historic South End neighborhood.
She has since adopted using an early abbreviation of her name, Bora, in lieu of Barbara.
With knowledge of history and ancient cultures, Bora explores the emanation of archetypes and communicates her understanding of non-duality as the essence of creativity. Years of interest in philosophy, psychology, entheogenic explorations, and curious multidisciplinary learning drive her creativity.
Visionary art integration and individual art mentoring are modalities with which she contributes to transformative conversations about the role of art in questioning the boundaries of understanding reality.
Her training and experience allowed her to contribute to fine arts and in promoting and mentoring artists. Bora managed and led state and private galleries in Europe and the US. As a curator, she used creative writing in addition to her visual artwork. She worked as an accomplished residential and fine-dining interior designer in Prague for over a decade and managed Rony Plesl's glass studio. She also managed education programs at the Vaclav Havel Foundation in Prague. Prior to moving to Boston, she held the position of gallery director and curator of the Morro Bay Art Center in California until 2022.
Her training and studies include an M.A. in Art History from Comenius University, Slovakia; fine arts studies at the Institute of Art and Design, Minneapolis, US; Art Academy, Prague, Czech Republic; St.Thomas University, Minneapolis, US; Academy of Realist Artists, Boston, US; and a Civic Leadership Foundation fellowship, Minneapolis, US.
Her art is in private collections and has been exhibited in Prague, Vienna, Boston, Bangor, Santa Fe, Colorado Springs, San Luis Obispo, and Morro Bay since 2012.
Bora Sitar is a skilled, knowledgeable, and intuitive teacher and guide. Her understanding of human psychology enables her to find a unique way to instruct and motivate each individual to stretch their self-imposed limitations in creativity. She is skilled and fluent in a very broad spectrum of artistic media, so the scale of possibilities for her students to grow is endless.
Laurie Lackland, Morro Bay, California.
I had the privilege of working as an intern at MB Art Association in 2020, under Bora Sitar as the acting Gallery Director. Her mentorship completely shifted the way I approach art, life, and any other challenges brought my way. Bora taught me to be confident in my strengths and to use my short-comings to my creative advantage. With her guidance I was able to accomplish the graphic design tasks given to me by the association, as well as creating my own projects and exhibiting them. I am currently completing my BA in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts and Psychology at Colorado State University to become an Art Therapist.
Brooke Deegan, Denver, Colorado
As a mentor, Bora has made a huge impact on my painting motivation and the quality of my art work. Like any successful coach, Bora does a wonderful job balancing between motivation and critique, between providing specific instruction and encouraging you to make your own discoveries. I would still be floundering around if not for her guidance.
Sean Tuck, Los Osos, California