PAULA CASTILLO

BIO

Paula Castillo is a mestizaje artist based in her hometown of Belén, NM. She attended Yale University after high school and then dropped out after two years to work in an electronics factory. Here she began to forge her early career in contemporary sculpture. Castillo holds an MFA from the University of New Mexico in 3D Studio, focusing on Contemporary Theory, Ecofeminism, and Relational Aesthetics. Castillo's material expertise includes recycled biotic and sculptural metals, steel, wood, paper, cast concrete and acrylic, and digital art. She has received grants from UNESCO, SITE Santa Fe, and Los Alamos National Labs to develop cutting-edge contemporary art encapsulating critical place-making. Castillo's work is in various national collections, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She is currently working on a project on "Curanderisma and Corn" for the Denver Botanic Gardens, and her performance piece, "Reverse the Curse," will be featured in Going With the Flow: Art, Actions, and Western Waters, a special exhibit on water and the southwest Co-Curated by Brandee Caoba & Lucy R. Lippard for SITE Santa Fe. She was also recently awarded a large-scale permanent public commission for the Denver Art Museum for her project that reveals Denver's deep Latinx narrative.