Christina Contaldi is an American artist, based in New Jersey. Born to an artist mother and lawyer father, she was gifted with a healthy balance of right-brained creativity and left-brain logic. However, it took her half of a lifetime to get these seemingly opposing parts to work harmoniously together, instead of wrestling against each other. 

Christina majored in Visual Arts at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and graduated in 2003. From there she began a career in Graphic Design, where she worked as a Senior Designer for a leading global law firm at their NYC headquarters, for nearly a decade. Deciding the corporate world was not for her, she slowly transitioned out, taking a job as an Art Director at a small tech start-up, until she left altogether to to pursue her own creative dreams. 

On this journey, she became a mother to her two beautiful children, Ryan and Josie, who beckoned her to slow down and resuscitate her own inner child and carefree whimsy. They spent a lot of time outdoors, visiting gardens and parks, and following the calls of nature. Between diaper changes and nap times, Christina reclaimed simple creative pleasures, like writing poetry, illustrating, and painting again. 

In raising her children, Christina was inspired by their unapologetic expression and innate desire to grow and expand. This made her curious about her own authenticity and life direction. Who was she at the core and who did she want to become? These questions led her down the path of personal development, with a heightened interest in health and spirituality. In 2015 she became a registered yoga teacher, and started teaching yoga, mindfulness and meditation.

As she slowed down, and carved out more time for what she valued, her true desires became clearer. She started saying ‘yes’ to herself, and ‘no’ to what no longer mattered. She spent a lot of time alone, incubating her craft. Along the way, she met the parts of herself that were holding her back from her art — perfectionism, self-doubt, procrastination and a harsh inner critic. She learned how to work with these parts to move through frustration, anxiety and failure. It took consistent small steps, and a few “dark nights of the soul”, to bring forth what was within her, into full expression.

Christina describes herself as multi-passionate, which is reflected in her work. She is inspired by both the simplicity and complexity of nature, and layers in parallel nuances from the human experience. Themes like environment, internal worlds, memories, emotions, and spirituality are integrated into her art. She has met many iterations of herself, and is always evolving, as is her explorative creative expression.