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Osvaldo Castillo

Sessional Faculty

Availability:

Education:

Diploma
OCADU, 2001
MFA
Concordia University, 2008

Bio

Originally from El Salvador, Osvaldo uses modes of storytelling to discuss issues of historical trauma, collective memory, hybrid identity and ancestry. Working across mixed media drawing processes, printmaking, stop motion animation video and installation work, his practice examines how personal and collective histories are remembered, inherited, and transformed. He has participated in residencies at The Headlands Centre for the Arts, The Santa Fe Art Institute, Griffin Art projects and St. Michael's Printshop among others. In 2015 he was the recipient of the Artist Studio Award Program by the City of Vancouver, and was the 2011 winner of the Victor Martyn-Lynch Staunton Award for a mid-career artist in Canada from the Canada Council of the Arts.

Websites:

Research Interests

Central to Osvaldo’s material practice and research is the translation of intergenerational memory and the legacy of the Salvadoran Civil War of the 1980s into personal imagery. His work brings these histories into dialogue with pre-Hispanic mythology, popular folklore and Roman Catholic iconography. Through a multi-linear narrative approach, he explores processes of recovery and healing by reimagining ancient folk tales, indigenous symbols and nature-based imagery. These elements function as decolonizing allegories—ways of recovering suppressed histories, reconnecting with ancestral knowledge, and projecting alternative possibilities for the future. Areas of study and research include contemporary Latin American art and history, art and social movements, Latin American folklore and indigenous knowledge systems. Osvaldo has received multiple research and production grants from the Canada Council and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and residency fellowships from The Kala Art Institute and The Headlands Centre for the Arts among others. He has exhibited his work across Canada, and internationally in the USA, Mexico, Central America and Europe.

Thesis Supervision

Supervised Programs:

Courses

Course Name Department Course Code Term
Foundation Studio Courses FNDT 165 26/FA

Description

Foundation Core is an introduction to a breadth of conceptual, technical and disciplinary approaches that includes 2D, 3D and 4D disciplines. Exploring different forms of conceptual and material-based inquiry, this studio course focuses on the understanding and articulation of core values shared across contemporary art, design, and media disciplines. Foundation Core emphasizes practices and concepts that provide a solid platform for any of the degree-focused studio cores offered in the second semester.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Drawing DRWG 304 26/FA

Description

This course varies in topic from section to section and is repeatable for credit provided the thematic topic has changed. It supplements regular core courses by presenting content and approaches that broaden the student's understanding of the subject area. This course presents complementary content to address a specific area of interest or concern within drawing practices. Assigned projects specific to the area of study, presentations, demonstrations and critiques are an integral part of the course. The focus of the course is determined by the instructor.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.