INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY: In the studio with Artist and Gallery Owner Christina Varga

How do you define an artist like Christine Varga by a single medium? You don't. Painter, assemblage artist, curator, environmental advocate, and community builder, Varga is one of the Hudson Valley's most original creative voices. From her vibrant gallery and studio in the Catskills hamlet of Phoenicia, she creates bold, layered works from discarded materials—vintage album covers, paper towels, found objects, and glittering fragments—transforming the overlooked into art that celebrates the sacredness of women, questions consumer culture, and reminds us that beauty can be found almost anywhere.