Oleksandra has restored numerous books and icons for churches, libraries, and museums in the United States and abroad, in Ukraine. Depending on the age of the art piece, it may take long hours and a combination of tools, utensils, glues, and watercolors or oils to restore a piece of art. Her expertise began as the Director of the Restoration Department in the Kherson Regional Library in Ukraine, the largest government-funded library in the city, where five stories of Soviet books were being kept. Preservation was a necessity rather than luxury, as many of them were destroyed in the revolution at the beginning of the 19 th century, and the ones that barely survived, were in dire need of a preservationist’s attention.

Good quality books published before the revolution were a real commodity. The pages were filled with Tolstoy’s and Dostoevsky’s novels, rather than Soviet propaganda. Therefore, what Ukraine was able to save from the revolution, it tried to preserve for generations to come. From books, Oleksandra slowly became involved with local churches, who reached out to her for similar reasons. Just like books, original iconography painted in the 19 th century and even earlier had been in extreme need of restoration. Not only because it had acquired layers of patina from church incense and candle flames, but also because the revolution and the Soviet regime that followed had been brutal to churches. Many were burnt down to the ground, along with all the icons painted by monks back in the days when Russia was called Holy. Some icons, however, survived the revolution and the regime thanks to few fearless clergy and laymen, who had managed to hide it in their attics or basements.

Thus, when Oleksandra became an Art Restorer in Ukraine in the early- 1990’s, churches had already been given more freedoms to worship God and venerate holy art – Icons. When one church reached out to her as a known Art Restorer in Kherson, the word quickly spread across many churches in the region, and soon Oleksandra was doing the impossible – brining back the images of Christ, the Holy Theotokos, the Archangels, and many Saints that survived the test of time. From dark inconspicuous images, icons soon became light, and the images of Holy figures clearly visible. Quickly becoming a zealous supporter of the Orthodox faith herself, Oleksandra had continued to restore icons for churches for free until she moved to the United States in the mid-1990’s. In the US, within several years, a monastery in Florida hired her to restore their collection of books from Greece and their old icons, as well as inspired her to begin the practice of icon painting -iconography.
Icon painting was something that Oleksandra never believed was possible. It was originally thought that only monks and nuns living in monasteries were gifted to perform such artistic miracles. Nevertheless, her training began in Art College in Ukraine, where she learned to work with different types of art media. Thus, from years of using watercolors and oils as well as a multitude of tools and brushes to restore antiques, Oleksandra was not a novice. Little by little, acquiring iconography books and attending workshops, Oleksandra slowly began painting icons. Her first icon was that of the Christ and her next one was that of the Holy Theotokos, and her third one was of Archangel Michael. These three icons currently bless the space, which is Oleksandra’s workshop, where she restores antiques and practices iconography – Saint Luke Art Studio.

We hope that this website will serve as an introduction and resource to you. Whether its antiques restoration or a
cquiring a freshly painted Byzantine-style Greek and Russian Icon for your church or home, we are here.