Caroline Madden
Associate Professor

Caroline Madden originally trained at Stourbridge before completing her studies in America. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Jacksonville University Florida. Madden has been a guest artist at both the world famous Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle and at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. She is also the Director of the Glass Institute of the Southeast.

Caroline Madden is a Florida transplant. She was born in England, grew up in Ireland, went to Boston to complete her Master of Fine Arts degree, and now teaches at Jacksonville University where she is an Assistant Professor of Art. There she teaches sculpture and glass-making. She creates the glass in works like Wholeness . Madden's feeling for the environment may stem from her childhood years on a farm in Ireland near the coast. She has reminisced about riding her bicycle to do family errands in the Irish rain. She remembers she experienced the rain so often that she would consciously discriminate among the types of rain - "cold" or "hard" or "soft."

In all her works she contrasts "organic substances" with a brief or delicate life - like rose petals or sapling branches - to those that are less "transient" - like rock or glass. She tends to work intuitively, forming symbols or metaphors for memories, issues, and meanings that must be decoded. Her materials and the scale of her installations lend a sense of drama to them while simultaneously evoking meditative thought. She uses these combinations of mood and environmental media to "claim" her own "spirit."

Jonathan Christie
Artist-in-Residence

Jonathan Christie, comes to JU from Seattle where he ran his own a glass studio, and worked with Chihuly Inc. as a Glass Blower. His Glass Art has been exhibited throughout the US. and recently appeared in Art in America. He has collaborated with world-renowned artists including, Kiki Smith, Jim Dine, Tony Oursler, and Maya Lin. His work is part of many permanent collections including, Bill Gates, Roger Clinton, Robert Schiffler Collection, and Lightbourne Communications. Jonathan has a BFA in Glass from Mass Art and has apprenticed with masters like, Pino Signoretto and Lino Tagliapietra. He has given demonstrations and lectures throughout the world and taught in New York, New Orleans, Hawaii, and now as Artist in Residence at Jacksonville University.

His work can be seen locally in the Davis College of Business and at the Office of Dr. Obi.