Our
Artists

Luiza & Iulian Budea are a brother and sister team of Romanian-born artists who live and work in New York City.

The  Monastery of Cartisoara, Romania

View of the porch from The  Monastery of
​St. Panteleimon, Greece

View of The  Monastery of Akritochori, Greece

About

Luiza Budea

Retracing a lost tradition

Because of a century when icon-painting was almost entirely discontinued, the knowledge of how to do it no longer survives to this day. Modern schools have attempted to collect what was left and revive the craft, but each has filled in what was missing not only with contemporary techniques and materials but also contemporary thinking. It was necessary then to piece together fragments of this knowledge from whatever sources seemed to be most promising.

Luiza has traveled widely to study and research various methods and schools of icon-painting.  She became well-versed in both the Greek and Russian schools before merging their best elements into her personal technique.
Her personal strength is her excelling color sensibility. She is knowledgeable of pigments that have been used historically; produced acording to their original recipes. She avoids the use of modern pigments wherever possible because they tend to overpower and disrupt the color harmony of the image.
Like many Romanian artists she acquired and pursued both a classical fine arts education and a knowledge of painting Icons. She graduated from The Cooper Union School of Art  and studied at the Prosopon School of Iconography in New York City.
Thanks to the gracious help of Fr. Nicolae Tanase from Valea Plopului, to whom she is eternally grateful, she was able to travel to Greece, where she studied iconography at the Monastery St. Panteleimon near Eleftheroupoli, and at the monastery of Akritochori, located near Thessaloniki.  Both have renowned icon-painting studios and traditions stemming from Mt. Athos.
She also enjoyed an exchange of experience and the gracious hospitality of the nuns of the Holy Monastery of Cartisoara, nestled at the foot of the Fagaras mountains in Romania.

“Un sfânt de-al Cărui Chip Te Temi,” metal & plaster,  by Iulian Budea

“Vestirea,” clay, by Iulian Budea

About the Artist

Iulian Budea

Set in Stone

Iulian Budea is a Romanian-born artist living and working in New York City. He has enjoyed an extensive arts education starting from classical roots in Romania to contemporary training in NYC. Like many expats he looks back on his cultural roots while echoing elements from his new environment, constantly finding harmonies between the two. His work has a strong focus on sculpture and carving, including works in marble, wood, limestone, metal, clay and plaster.