Born 1974 in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria.
Vanya Sapundzhieva finished the National Aprilov High School in Gabrovo (1993) ... moreBorn 1974 in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. Vanya Sapundzhieva finished the National Aprilov High School in Gabrovo (1993) and received her BA and MA in Iconography (1998) from Sts Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo where she also did her PhD in Iconography (2006). She carried out a postdoctoral project at the National Science Fund (NSF) in cooperation with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2010–2013). Vanya Sapundzhieva is Assoc. Prof. of Icon Painting at the Department of Church Arts, Orthodox Theological Faculty, University of Veliko Tarnovo. She is a founder member of the EIKONA – a group of academics working in the field of ecclesiastical arts from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Russia, initiated by Prof. George Kordis. Since 1997, she has participated in iconographic exhibitions held in Bulgaria, Switzerland, Belgium, Romania, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Poland. Some of her most important projects in the area of Christian art include the frescoes of St. Nicholas Church, Weiler-la-Tour, Luxembourg (2011), the frescoes of St Paisios of Hilandar Church, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria (2004-13), St Michael the Archangel Church, Kolena, Bulgaria (2014-16), Anonsiation Chapel, Stara Zagora (2017), the icons of the same church, icons for the iconostasis of St Haralambos Church, Dolna Mahala, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, iconostasis panels for St Patriarch Evtimii Church, Paris, France and many individual frescoes for churches in Bulgaria. Icons drawn by Vanya Sapundzhieva are also found in many private collections in Europe and the USA. Vanya Sapundzhieva has taken part in two international icon-painting workshops in Brancoveanu Monastery (1998) and in Bistrica Monastery, Romania (2000); in the First, Third, and Fourth Symposium on iconographic art organized by the EIKONA Group held in Thessaloniki, Greece (2009) , St Petersburg, Russia ( 2010) and the Monastery of New Valaam (2011), Finland, respectively; in the Third Biennale ‘From Assumption to the Present Day’ held at the Institut de théologie orthodoxe Saint-Serge, Paris, France (2009), International atelier “Ikona Nova”, Bucharest, Romania (2014) and in the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Biennale of Church Arts held in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017). She has one monograph and numerous publications on post-Byzantine art and in the field of Christian iconology.edit
