Bio
Roxana Casillas is a sculptor born in Mexico City in 1964. Her love for wood carving and sculpture began at the age of 15 when she attended art school. In 1981 she moved to San Diego, California. In 1989, she graduated in Art from SDSU and relocated to Los Angeles, where she taught painting and photography.In 1993, Roxana moved to Pietrasanta, Italy, a town famous for sculpture, known as “Little Athens”. There, she lived and worked for 15 years, learning from experienced artisans who became her mentors. Roxana honed her sculpture skills in marble studios and bronze foundries and apprenticed for noted sculptors. In 1995 she received her first major commission for a 10-foot-tall marble sculpture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in California. This success led to more commissions, including The Stations of the Cross, a collection of fifteen marble sculptures with 210 figures, and a bronze portrait of musician Woody Herman commissioned by PBS. During her time in Italy, Roxana participated in many exhibitions, sculpture symposiums, and art residencies throughout Europe. In 2001, she was chosen to represent the U.S. in Project Giotto residency during the G8 international summit meeting in Genoa, Italy. After years in Italy, Roxana returned to the U.S. to set up her own studio. Awards include the 2022 California Relief Fund Grant, the L-Fund Debra I Moore Grant, and the 2023 California Arts Council Award x Artists Disruptors Fellowship.
Born in Mexico City, 1964.
Lives in Palm Springs, California.
Education
BA San Diego State University
AA Southwestern College.
Apprenticeships: 1993-1995 Palla Scultore Marble Sculpture Studio, Pietrasanta, Italy
1995-1996 Fratelli Cacciatori Marble Sculpture Studio, Pietrasanta, Italy
1996-2001 Bottega Versiliese Marble Sculpture Studio, Pietrasanta, Italy
Selected Exhibitions
2018 The Annenberg Foundation at Sunnylands, Rancho Mirage, California
2017-2022 Galerie Lorien, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010-2018 Coda Gallery, Palm Desert, California (monthly exhibitions)
2014 Vickers Galleries, Sedona, Arizona
2013-2015 Vickers Galleries Collection, Aspen, Vail, and Beaver Creek, Colorado
2011 Heart Month Artists, American Heart Association, Coda Gallery, Palm Desert, California
2008 Between Two Worlds, City of Palm Desert Gallery, Palm Desert, California
2006 Home, Chiostro di Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy
2005 Fabianoarte, Pubblica Assistenza di Fabiano, Fabiano, Italy
2005 Vico Vitri Art, Proposte Latine, Azzano, Italy
2005 Torre Upezzinghi, Pontedera, Italy
2005 Migrazioni, Atrio del Palazzo Comunale di Savona, Savona, Italy
2005 Migrazioni, Chiostro Francescano di Mellea, Farigliano, Turin, Italy
2004 Migrazioni, Palazzo Mediceo, Seravezza, Italy
2003 O'Bernier Gallery, La Jolla, California
2002 100 Artisti in Cantina, Arkad Foundation, Seravezza, Italy
2001 Gallery Belle Arte, Château St. Gerlach, Maastricht, Holland
2001 Project Giotto, G8, Palazzo della Provincia, Genoa, Italy
2001 Arte Giovane, Monteggiori, Italy
2001 Arte per una Nuova Biblioteca, Scuola Michele Rossi, Lido di Camaiore, Italy
2000 ASART Show 2001, Spazio Raffo Marmi, Pietrasanta, Italy
2000 ASART Open Studios, Pietrasanta, Italy
2000 Gallery Belle Arte, Chateau St. Gerlach, Maastricht, Holland
2000 Omaggio dell’Arte alla Vergine Maria, Convento S. Francesco, Pietrasanta, Italy
1999 Anime Apuane, Assessorato alla Cultura di Carrara, (traveling exhibition)
1999 Ex Banca d'Italia, Carrara, Italy
1999 Italsky Kutumi Institut, Prague, Czech Republic
1998 Palais des Congrès, Grasse, France
1998 Schloss Schönbrunn Österreich, Vienna, Austria
1998 Giovane Scultura senza Frontiere, Comune di Volterra, Assessorato alla Cultura, Volterra, Italy
1997 Logge del Palazzo Pretorio, Volterra, Italy
1997 Grafica, Materia, Colore, Chiesa di S. Paolo all’Orto, Pisa, Italy
1992 Essex Museum Salem Witches Tercentenary Anniversary, Salem, Massachusetts
1991 Emerging Visions ’92, Melrose Village Gallery, West Hollywood, California
1990 Apocrypha, Wilton Project Theater, Hollywood, California
1984-1987 San Diego Art Institute, Monthly Group Exhibitions, San Diego, California
1982 Evening with the Stars’82, Mexican American Foundation, Westgate Hotel, San Diego, California
1982 University Club, San Diego, California
1981 Expo 1981, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico City, Mexico
Selected Commissions
2021 Meditating Frog Fountain, Oliv Tucson Apartment Complex, Tucson, Arizona
2018 Seashell collection, Kindred Black
2016 Portrait bust, George Washington Carver Foundation
2016 Trump Hut political protest traveling sculpture, Republican National Convention, Cleveland, Ohio
2013 Altarpiece, St. Anne Church, San Diego, California
2005 Reiss Project, Private Chapel, La Jolla, California
2002 El Niño de Santa Maria de Atocha, Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Orange, California
2002 A Tribute to Woody Herman for PBS Television, Douglas Fairbanks Gardens, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, California
1997-1999 The Garden of the Resurrection, El Camino Memorial Park, San Diego, California
1996 Our Lady of Guadalupe Plaza, El Camino Memorial Park, San Diego, California
Grants
California Arts Council Award x Artist Disruptors, The Center for Cultural Power, 2023
Debra I Moore Grant for the Arts, L-Fund, 2023
California Relief Fund for Artists and Arts Practitioners, California Arts Council, 2022
Residencies and Symposiums
The Annenberg Foundation at Sunnylands, Rancho Mirage, California (Celebrating the estate's sculpture collection)
Simposio di Scultura, Pontedera, Italy
Scultura in Abetone, Abetone, Italy
Il Tempo nella Memoria, Campomaggiore Vecchio, Potenza, Italy
Concours de Sculptures sur Bois, Saint Michel de Maurienne, France
Laboratorio di Scultura di Front, Turin, Italy
Simposio di scultura figurativa su marmo, Turin, Italy
Project Giotto, 16 Countries for the G8 Meeting (representing U.S.A.), Genoa, Italy