Mr. Dayton Castleman

Dayton Castleman is an artist with experience in education, consulting, curating, writing, and public speaking. His artwork has been exhibited in museums, universities, and galleries, including The International Sculpture Center, DePaul University Museum of Art, Loyola University Museum of Art, The Singer Sweatshop in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Nomas Projects in Dundee, Scotland. He has installed permanent public artworks in Philadelphia, PA, and Bentonville, AR. A multi-modal artist, his creative pursuits have seen him collaborate with his wife and creative partner Karen Castleman, developing and producing dance projects with world-class dancers from Momix, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Dayton was born and grew up in New Orleans. He received a BA in Art from Belhaven University (1998), and followed Karen’s dance career to Philadelphia in 2001, finding work as an art handler. In 2004 he founded the Church Studios, re-purposing the upper floors of a large church near the Philadelphia Museum of Art into artist studios that have continued to operate as a recognized work space and a cultural hub for dozens of artists over the last two decades. He pursued his graduate study at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture (2008) with visual and academic research focused on art in public spaces. In 2008 he accepted a tenure-track position at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL, heading up the sculpture program in addition to teaching design, drawing, and digital media. In 2012 he moved to to Northwest Arkansas to get in on the ground floor of the region's anticipated cultural transformation, working at Phat Tire bike shop, as a museum educator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and as the opening Museum Manager at 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville, developing public programming and overseeing the museum operations of the innovative hospitality concept and multi-venue museum of contemporary art for eight years. He was an inaugural appointee to the Bentonville, AR Public Art Advisory Committee, and currently chairs the City of Rogers, AR Public Arts Commission. Dayton assumed his current role as Director of Creative Placemaking + Artist Lead at Rogers-based architecture firm Verdant Studio in March of 2020. In 2022 he joined ULI as an associate member and applied to for a ULI Art in Place grant on behalf of the ULI Northwest Arkansas District Council, and has led the ULI NWA Art in Place program as part of the AIP global cohort in 2023.