Dayton Castleman
Director of Creative Placemaking + Artist Lead, Verdant Studios
Dayton loves spaces where humans, art, and built environments interact, and he enjoys discovering ways to amplify those interactions and deepen their meaning. Growing up in New Orleans he enjoyed the urban theatricality of the Crescent City, and since then his educational and professional pursuits in visual art have taken him to Mississippi, Philadelphia, Chicago, and finally to northwest Arkansas. Dayton holds his Bachelor of Art in Art with a painting concentration from Belhaven University and a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While in Philadelphia he founded a collective studio space for artists, and he was on the art and design faculty at a small suburban Chicago college for four years following grad school. In 2012 he moved to Bentonville, Arkansas, working in a bike shop, as a museum educator, museum manager, independent curator, and artist. His artwork and installations in both galleries and public spaces have been presented across the United States and in Europe. He brings a keen historical knowledge, an interest in research, and wide-ranging experiences is the visual arts ecosystem to the integration of art and architecture, as well as the application of creative thinking strategies to site-branding, experience architecture, visual design, and art consultation. An avid cyclist, Dayton lives in Rogers Arkansas with his wife of 21 years and their three children.