Obituary

Christina Jutta Margareta Fez-Barringten

          Born October 2, 1927 in Leipzig Germany and married to Barie Fez-Barringten March 4, 1966 in New haven Connecticut. They had no children.
          At 93 and due to cancer Christina Fez-Barringten went home to the Lord on Feb. 12 2021.  Christina lived with her husband of 54 years  in Del Tura Country Club in North Fort Myers, FL; and before that Lehigh Acres, Kitzbuhel, Saudi Arabia, Texas, Tennessee, New York City. Puerto Rico and Connecticut
          Christina was the founder of Houston German Wine society supported by Bernard Sakowitz and attended by such celebrities as Gene Tierney and Merle Oberon
          At 83, on July 22, 2011 just weeks after her book “Holy Spirit and i” was published God delivered Christina through open heart quadruple bypass surgery. Then, she was overflowing with testimony about how Jesus let the blood and water flow through her system in a physical and spiritual reconstruction, writing about her personal accounts with God over her lifetime.
          Her book “Holy Spirit and i” will encourage and provide a roadmap to the skeptic and discouraged while providing a revealing and warm personal account of love and victory over adversity.
          Christina accompanied the Holy Spirit through 23 years in Germany under the Weimar Republic, Hitler’s Nazi Germany, then the Communists behind the Iron curtain (from which she escaped) and, then later spent 20 years in Saudi Arabia. The fact is, only examples of real life experiences can make it clear to most readers how to recognize the touch of the Holy Spirit in their personal lives.
          The book tells of the Holy Spirit saving her from the danger of war in Nazi-Germany; He protected her from the brutality of communism and later directed her to find freedom in America. Through the valley of deep sorrow when she had to leave her homeland with little hope to return, was confounded by the` unexpected news of her mother’s death that turned great joy into sadness, and later losing her home again because of the tragic accident of her husband Paul.
          Christina Fez-Barringten is an ordained minister with a bachelor of arts in Bible theology from Global University. She and her husband founded the Saudi Arabia Division of the International Correspondence Institute and missioned in Saudi Arabia. Barie was contact pastor to the United States Air Force and is associate professor at Global University.
          In 1956 she came to New York to study philosophy. But when she discovered the powerful and inspiring movement of modern art in New York City, and, learned to know Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and, others. She decided to use her artistic talent and, changed her goals to study fine art at both the Art Students League and School of Visual Arts.
          Shortly before she intended to return to Germany, Christina was introduced to Paul Lefson by Max Waldman, a theatrical photographer (Well known for his book "Waldman on Theater", and his photos in Life Magazine). Paul and Christina got married in 1958 and lived on East 31 Street in Manhattan. Sadly, Paul Lefson died accidentally while on business in Chicago early in 1963.
          To overcome the devastating loss, Christina turned to her art more than ever. She now studied sculpture at Columbia University under Professor Peter Augustini. In that period, Christina learned to know Barie Fez-Barringten. They were married March 4 1966 and devoted their lives to the Word of God. Christina was an only child and proud to be from a family of artisans, builders and prominent business proprietors. She was partner to Barie as he studied architecture at Yale and then she chose for them to venture to Puerto Rico and then back to New York where she navigated their life with little income, she always saw the possible and encouraged Barie to succeed.
          There journey took them to Jackson, Tennessee, then to work for Gulf Oil in Reston, then Houston until they closed and Barie was appointed associate professor at Texas A&M. Throughout her life Christina braved a trip from Germany to New York, then from  New Haven to Germany, then to Kitzbuhel then to Florida where on her own settled in Del Tura in North fort Myers. So, her last journey came when she finally joined Jesus in her most prayed for destination: heaven.
          She is now with Jesus in her covenant  home in heaven. Faithful, dedicated and loyal she partnered with Barie as tentmakers in Saudi Arabia for 20 years and lastly partnered in presenting bible studies for 12 years at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in North Fort Myers. Barie was ordained by Assemblies of God and have a life time friendship with Dan and Darlene Betzer who wrote the forward to her book.
          Barie was recently appointed a trustee of the Yale club of Southwest Florida and Christina has been invited to show her collages in local fine art and internet galleries.
          Christina Fez-Barringten was a Pop Art artist and a writer. Her collages, acrylic paintings, and Plexiglas sculptures were part of the exciting visual arts movement that emerged in the mid 1950's in Britain and in the late 1950's in the United States. While Pop Art, like Pop Music, aimed to employ images of popular culture in art and emphasized the everyday elements of any given culture, Christina's work challenged the depressing “elitist” culture of the 1950's with her passion for harmony, grace and balance. She believed that all of these elements could work together. Furthermore, she believed that the “deconstructivism” of Da Da and Surrealism art of the time could be made popular by mixing them with the jargon of the world of fashion and cosmopolitan urbanism that the new generations understood. Christina's work might be called Existentialism today.
          This brave young woman turned her beliefs into reality. She broke Plexiglas into fragments and reassembled them into vibrant, colorful sculptures. Christina ripped apart fashion magazines of the early 1960's and gently placed them into compositions of personality, boldness, love, deep thought, and excitement.
          Shortly before moving to New Haven to begin his studies, Barie supernaturally met Christina (the words of the song “some enchanted evening” comes to mind) . At the time Christina lived at the International House, a home for graduate students on Riverside Drive. She studied fine arts at Columbia University Howard Cook, then, the president of the International House, graciously arranged for Christina to have a large art studio in the same building, where she could work and develop her new kind of sculptures.
          Her medium was Plexiglas, which had never been used in fine art sculptures.
          David Rockefeller commissioned her work to be exhibited at the Chase Manhattan bank. Other exhibitions followed. The Frank Lawrence Gallery at East 57 Street and Park Ave. Showed and represented her abstract sculptures; which, thanks to her medium, and , her artistry, are not like conventional sculptures where volume is inserted into space which surrounds them. Rather, they have become part of space as air, color and light play through it.
          In Riyadh Christina developed, out of necessity a new style of pattern-like paintings. For in this Muslim country objects cannot be portrayed through art. In 1986, Christina gave a major exhibition of her acrylic paintings sponsored by the American Ambassador in Saudi Arabia. In addition, she taught and was the judge of important art events, especially during the five years when Barie was Professor of Architecture at King Faisal University, located in Dammam on the Gulf of Arabia.
          Barie articles of metaphors, written during that time, are published in learned journals in the USA, Middle East and Europe.
          In Puerto Rico Christina developed a series of original and exciting collages. She was inspired by the most elaborate, rich and opulent editions of the 1960's - Harper's Bazaar and Vogue Magazines.
These collages are excellent posters in the form of giclees and are now shown for the first time on the internet.
          You can see all her work on their websites www.bariefez-barringten.com and http://writethevision.webs.com
Her ashes will rest and later , alongside Barie’s , in Good Shepherd’s Columbarium niche.