Christina Saj

• Born — 1967 • Birthplace — Syracuse, New York, U.S. • Education — Sarah Lawrence College, BA, 1988, Bard College, MFA, 1992 • Known for — Contemporary spiritual and religious icons • Website — https: christinasaj.com Christina Saj (/saɪ/; Ukrainian: Христина Сай; born 1967) is a Ukrainian American artist living and working in New Jersey. She is known for her paintings bridging traditional Byzantine iconography and contemporary art. She has created icons in the modern vernacular.

Christina Saj is a first generation American, whose family immigrated to the US after World War II from Ternopil, Ukraine. Saj was born in Syracuse, New York and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, where she returned after completing her undergraduate and graduate studies.

Saj earned a BA in Fine Art in 1988 from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville NY, followed by an MFA in Painting from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, Annandale on Hudson in 1992; she also studied Byzantine Art History at Wadham College, Oxford University, and spent time at SACI in Florence, Italy. Early in her career she learned traditional techniques of icon painting using egg tempera (a medium that employs pure pigment ground with an emulsion of egg and water) on a ground of levkas, while studying precepts of Byzantine Iconography with Petro Cholodny the Younger, whose icons can be found in Lourdes, Rome and in NY. Despite traditional training, Saj has often used found or unconventional materials in her work such as wood, metal, glass, collage elements and mixed media. Her works are often based on traditional prototypes and recognisable objects of worship.

Saj was the founder and director of ARTspace 129 a gallery in Montclair NJ (2004–2007). She curated and presented 6 exhibitions of regional artists annually.

In 2022, she was awarded a residency at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City. In 2008, as part of a residency Saj created an installation of the Six Days of Creation at New Brunswick Theological Seminary which was installed in the sanctuary on the New Brunswick campus.

Lucky Charms, Talisman of a former life 81 Leonard Gallery, NYC 2023 Finding Sanctuary: Painting thru the Pandemic, Ukrainian Museum, NYC 2022 Sacred Space: Art as Sanctuary, First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor MI 2022 Longing For What Belongs to Us FreshAirMontclair, 73 See Gallery, Montclair NJ 2020 RE:create – Christina Saj's Transformative Paintings, Ukrainian Museum, NYC 2019 Cruciform, Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta GA 2014 Let the Angels Sing! 5th Avenue Presbyterian, New York, NY 2012 Chorus of Angels, Christ Church Episcopal, Glen Ridge NJ 2011 Angels, Shepherds and Kings Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta GA 2011 On a Wing and A Prayer, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA 2011 Images of Faith, Grantham Church, Grantham, PA 2010 Form Seeking Expression, Marian Library, University of Dayton, Dayton OH 2010 The Six Days of Creation, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Rutgers University, NJ 2008 Visions and Imaginings, artpsace 129, Montclair, NJ 2006 Lisova Pisnia, Ukrainian Education Cultural Center Gallery, Philadelphia PA 2004 The Tree of Life, American Embassy, Doha, Qatar thru 2006 Words and Images, works on paper The Rosalind & Alfred Lippman Gallery, Temple B’nai Jeshurun Short Hills, NJ 2003 Indomitable Spirit: Paintings of Faith, Hope and Remembrance The Interchurch Center NY, NY 2001 The Guiding Spirit, The Bible Technologies Conference, Chantilly, VA 2000 The Corporate Landscape, Brodsky Gallery, Chauncey Conference Center, Princeton, NJ 2000 Painted Prayers, St. James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University, NY, NY 2000 Drawing on Inspiration, Midland Gallery; Montclair, NJ 1999 Music as Art/Art as Music, Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair, NJ 1999 Celebration of Faith, Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair, NJ 1997 Remembering Myth, Midland Gallery; Montclair, NJ 1997 Allegories, The Lobby Gallery, Deutsche Bank, New York, NY 1995 Saints, Kings and Prophets, The Lobby Gallery, Deutsche Bank, New York, NY 1995 Contemporary Icons, Norbert Considine Gallery, Stuart Country Day School, Princeton, NJ 1994(8) New Painting, Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, Toronto, Canada 1993