Jonah Cacioppe

Australian-born painter Jonah Cacioppe has been extensively involved in the practice of spirituality and its expression in the arts, youth programs and leadership development. Having received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Curtin University, he then trained at St Oswalds School of Painting, London. The course was a rigorous, three year, old-school figurative training, which also incorporated meditative practice in its curriculum.

From 2000 to 2001 Jonah worked fulltime on the Waterperry House Fresco Project in Oxford UK. Involving over fifteen painters and sculptors, the project is one of the largest series of fresco paintings to be completed in the UK and is based on idea, myths and practices drawn from Advaita Vedanta. In 2002 Jonah took up a scholarship to the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, awarded through the Mosman Youth Art Prize, also receiving the Brett Whiteley Scholarship to Julian Ashtons in 2003. In 2004 he completed a Masters of Studio Arts at Sydney College of the Arts with distinction, under the supervision of respected Australian artist and Zen practitioner Dr Lindy Lee. Jonah's was Head of Painting at the Art Academy in London from 2005 to 2007 and taught at St Oswald's School of Painting where he originally trained.

Jonah has experience in teaching and designing and delivering leadership and non-dual philosophy programs for young people both within Australia and the UK over the last ten years, with organisations such as the School of Economic Science UK, the Department of Industry and Resources Western Australia, and the School of Philosophy Australia. Recently he returned to Perth to take up a job as Operations Director at Integral Development, a boutique leadership development consultancy, incorporating a comprehensive integral approach to leadership and organizational development. Through the School of Philosophy he regularly teaches a class in advaita Vedanta, meditation and non-dual philosophy, and is a board member of the Integral Institute Australasia, a not-for-profit sister organization of Integral Development. Jonah has exhibited extensively in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Oxford and London. Over the past few years, while channeling his creative inspiration into developing the consultancy, Jonah has also worked alongside his younger brother Chris to put on two shows at the Emerge Art Space in Perth; "Sex Bombs & Bliss", an exploration of the classic themes of death, beauty and transcendence; and "My Mind is the Sky, My Body is the Sea" which looks at the interdependence of nature and humanity.