Mary "Chris" Christine Madsen Sullivan

Chris (Mary Christine Madsen) was born in Sacramento, California, the youngest of three daughters, to Martha Keiski Madsen and Welby (Perk) R. Madsen. Martha was an elementary school teacher and Welby was a civil engineer with the California Water Project, which included the Oroville Dam and the California Aqueduct.

Chris and her sisters, Ann and Carol, attended public schools in Sacramento. Chris was student body vice-president at Sam Brannan Junior High. Her highlights at John F Kennedy High School included being a member of the California Scholastic Federation, a seal-bearer for having been on the honor roll every semester for three years, a Songster (cheerleader), and starring in a school play. She received the Art Award for highest achievement at graduation, and also the F. Melvin Lawson Award for all-around excellence in the Arts, Humanities, Science, and Athletics, the school’s highest award.

Chris also excelled with playing the piano. She was invited to play in a prestigious youth recital held at the Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento, where she performed Rachmaninoff’s difficult piece, “Prelude in C-Sharp Minor.”

She attended Sacramento City College for one year, before transferring to UC Davis, where she was a Room Advisor for an off-campus dorm. She taught other student how to make sand candles and tie-dyed t-shirts.

Chris planned to become a veterinarian due to her love of animals. However, the Art Department at UC Davis held a remarkable group of well-known, accomplished, professional teachers, including Wayne Thiebaud, Bob Arnesan, Greg Kondos, Roy DeForest, and William T. Wiley, among others, which she took full advantage of by taking as many drawing, painting, and sculpture classes from them as she could. She also took bronze casting classes from Tio Giambruni.

She went on to do graduate work at UCD, receiving her Elementary and Secondary Teaching Credentials. Later she received her Community College Credential.

Her life shifted to Southern California when she was hired to start an art department at Sowers Middle School in Huntington Beach. While teaching at Sowers, Chris met “the boy next door,” Tad Sullivan, while they were both renting two doors apart on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. Together they moved to a small apartment in Corona Del Mar in the fall, and were married the following year on December 27th, the date chosen for being the date that both their sets of parents had gotten married.

The following year Chris took a sabbatical from teaching to pursue her own art. She began attending painting workshops from a number of professional artists and teachers, primarily in watercolor. She studied with Robert E. Wood, Peg Shepherd, and others from the California School of Scene Artists, as well as Chinese Brush with noted artist and teacher Ning Yeh.

The workshop that would have the most profound affect on her art and teaching career was led by Rex Brandt and his wife, Joan Irving, both highly respected and accomplished members of the California School. After two years Chris was invited to be their assistant for their summer-long annual workshops in Corona Del Mar.

Instead of returning to teach at Sowers Middle School at the end of her sabbatical, Chris began teaching Chinese Brush Painting at Saddleback College, and Watercolor at Coastline Community College. She would stay teaching at Coastline for 34 years, winning awards for teaching excellence, earning a Professor of Art designation, and gaining a large following of inspired students, while teaching several levels of watercolor and mixed media.

In 1989 Chris and Tad were joined by their son, Riley, in their family life. Chris continued her teaching at Coastline, and conducted many workshops in the US and Europe She would teach art workshops on location until 2018. After retiring from Coastline College, she taught three levels of Watercolor as well as Mixed Media at Oasis Senior Center in Corona Del Mar for another ten years. She also had developed a number of private critique groups with skilled, advanced artists, two of which ran through the end of 2024 when her health declined.

Chris had attended the Zen Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa for over ten years as a regular practitioner, including participating in many all-day retreats. She felt this helped make a significant difference in her relationships with her art, teaching, and life. The Zen Center community had become an important part of both her and Tad’s life.

Paintings by Chris have been exhibited throughout the West, and have been included in juried exhibitions, including Watercolor West, Brand XVII, the Rocky Mountain National Watercolor Exhibition, The Long Beach Open, as well as museum exhibitions at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Ontario Art Museum, and the San Bernardino Museum. She has been represented by the Esther Wells Collection in Laguna Beach, Jeanine Meijer’s in Scottsdale, the Fireside Gallery in Carmel, and “A” Gallery in Palm Desert. Chris was a ten-year exhibitor at the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach, where she also served as a juror several times.

With all her accomplishments it’s hard to say which she enjoyed more, teaching or painting. When she was asked she would always say that both were extremely rewarding. Her many students and collectors of her paintings agreed that she excelled at both, never becoming formulaic in her art, always trying new techniques and styles, and always encouraging and inspiring her students in constructive ways., no matter what their level or abilities, helping them to learn the basics and then find their own creative voices.

Chris passed away early on the morning of February 13th at home with her husband at her side, her body worn down from complications of dementia. She is survived with love by her husband of 45 years, their son Riley, daughter-in-law Amelia, granddaughter Abigail, and her two sisters Ann and Carol. She lives on in her paintings, and the memory of family, friends, neighbors, students, and colleagues, as a vibrant, warm, loving and caring person, with a light-up smile, a great sense of humor, and friendliness felt by all who met her and knew her.