Beloved IUSB sculpture professor, artist Dora Natella dies in I-80 crash near Mishawaka

Claire Reid, South Bend Tribune
·3 min read
Indiana University South Bend art professor Dora Natella works on one of the figures for "The Spirit of Indiana."
Indiana University South Bend art professor Dora Natella works on one of the figures for "The Spirit of Indiana."

Editor's note: Because of incorrect information provided to The Tribune, an earlier version of this story said Dora Natella had pancreatic cancer at the time of her death. The Tribune has not been able to confirm the type of cancer she had. The story has been updated. The Tribune regrets the error.

Indiana University South Bend sculpture professor Dora Natella was "an amazing woman," said Marvin Curtis, the former dean of IUSB's Raclin School of the Arts.

"She was an amazing artist and an amazing human being," Curtis said. "She will be sorely missed."

Tragically, Natella, 66, died the morning of Tuesday, April 11, following a crash on the Indiana Toll Road in St. Joseph County near Mishawaka.

IUSB sculpture professor Dora Natella died at the scene on Tuesday, April 11 after a Toyota in which she was a passenger crashed into a semi-truck on the Indiana Toll Road near Mishawaka.
IUSB sculpture professor Dora Natella died at the scene on Tuesday, April 11 after a Toyota in which she was a passenger crashed into a semi-truck on the Indiana Toll Road near Mishawaka.

Indiana State Police troopers were called just after 11:10 a.m. to the serious crash involving a UPS semi-truck with double trailers and a silver 2019 Toyota SUV in the westbound lanes of the toll road near the 79.6-mile marker, approximately three miles west of the Mishawaka exit.

Troopers say the semi was traveling west when the brakes on the rear trailer locked up. The semi came to a stop with the rear trailer mostly in the right lane. Police say the Toyota was traveling west in the right lane and swerved left to avoid the trailer but ultimately hit its left corner.

Natella, who was riding in the Toyota's passenger seat, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Toyota's driver, Natella's son, Andrea Natella, 28, and the semi's driver, Stefan Canic, 33, were not injured in the crash.

WNDU reported that an inspection to determine why the brakes locked up on the semi will be conducted by troopers with the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division. Police say neither alcohol nor drugs are suspected to be factors in this crash. The investigation into the crash remains ongoing.

IUSB sculpture professor Dora Natella died at the scene on Tuesday, April 11 after a Toyota in which she was a passenger crashed into a semi-truck on the Indiana Toll Road near Mishawaka.
IUSB sculpture professor Dora Natella died at the scene on Tuesday, April 11 after a Toyota in which she was a passenger crashed into a semi-truck on the Indiana Toll Road near Mishawaka.

'She did work all over the world'

Natella's loss "is going to be great to not just the (IUSB) school community but to the greater community as well," Curtis said. "We're all devastated by it."

According to the university, Natella had led IUSB's sculpture program since 2004. Natella was born in Venezuela and raised and educated in Italy, where she studied classical sculpture tradition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. As a professor at IUSB, Natella took her students to Florence, Italy, for sculpture tours, Curtis said.

Before coming to IUSB, Natella earned a master's of fine arts in sculpture at Western Michigan University and taught sculpture at IU Bloomington and the University of Oregon. Her often-life-size work is on display everywhere from Venezuela to Lincoln, Neb.

"She did work all over the world," Curtis said.

Indiana University South Bend art professor Dora Natella's "The Spirit of Indiana" is at home outside Memorial Stadium in Miller Plaza in Bloomington, Ind.
Indiana University South Bend art professor Dora Natella's "The Spirit of Indiana" is at home outside Memorial Stadium in Miller Plaza in Bloomington, Ind.

In 2021, Natella completed a 4,830-pound bronze sculpture titled "The Spirit of Indiana." The more than 10-foot-tall sculpture sits outside Indiana University's Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. In 2018, Natella was invited to create the sculpture to mark IU's bicentennial after IU President Michael McRobbie admired Natella's work on IUSB's campus.

According to Curtis, Natella was battling cancer at the time of her death. Curtis said she was "a fighter."

"She was a wonderful woman, and a phenomenal, fantastic artist," he said.

Email Tribune staff writer Claire Reid at cereid@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Beloved IUSB professor Dora Natella dies in I-80 crash near Mishawaka