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Jodi Castillo, a lifelong Marion County resident, didn’t plan to become an artist. She said it’s almost as if art found her. The experience has been rewarding and enjoyable.
“Oh, I love it,” Castillo said. “It’s a chance for me to express myself and my ideas and to create something that people will enjoy. Something that will last.”
Castillo, a Ridgedale High School alumna, worked for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) for more than 20 years. She began painting houses before she found her way into the art world.
“When I left (ODRC), I had a daughter who was going to college, so I started painting houses for people, just for extra money to help cover her expenses,” Castillo explained. “Someone stopped me one time and asked if I painted store-front windows. I told them I’d never done it, but I’ll paint anything that holds still. I think that’s where more of the creative part of painting came, from designing store-front windows.”
Before she began painting publicly, Castillo said she fulfilled her creative niche by painting murals to match the themes of her grandchildren’s birthday parties.
“We designed big set for whatever the theme might be,” she said. “Peter Pan was the theme one year, so we did a lot of Peter Pan artwork for that party. That’s really where I began doing illustrative art as opposed to just painting a wall.”
Castillo was one of 11 Marion area artists selected to create murals for the Marion Art Alley public art project. Her piece, “The Truth is Out There,” is one of the murals that decorate the Art Alley, located between 141 and 147 S. Main St. in downtown Marion.
“To me, art is for everyone,” Castillo said. “When they approached me about doing a mural for (Art Alley), I thought that’s a great way to get people into the nooks and crannies of downtown Marion and make them check out some stuff they wouldn’t normally see. That, to me, was an opportunity to play and have someone else appreciate it. I was approached after I did some of the windows downtown, which included doing some windows for Christmas a few years ago.”
She created the storefront artwork for YummY Treats Candy & More, located at 140 E. Center St. in downtown Marion, and has collaborated with Dark Iron Cosplay Designs of Marion on several projects.
More recently, Castillo turned her artistic eye toward The Explore-It-Torium Children’s Museum, 244 S. Main St. in downtown Marion. She is in the process of creating murals for each of the seven themed rooms in the facility, which is owned and operated by MARCA Industries, Inc.
“I hadn’t ever been in (The Explore-It-Torium) until (February 2026) when my daughter and grandson were visiting from Arkansas,” she said. “The weather was terrible, so I thought, let’s go someplace indoors to play. So, we came in and looked around and it’s such a fabulous place, so many neat rooms.
“My daughter and I had been talking about me working with one of the schools to do a free mural, just for practice and just to give back to the community,” she said. “But when we saw (The Explore-It-Torium), we decided it would be a better fit because so many kids from different areas come here and we could create something that would build their imagination and give a little extra to what is already going on here. It’s just such an amazing space.”
Castillo recently finished work on the Farm Room at The Explore-It-Torium, creating a mural that depicts lush green rolling hills with the rising sun in the background, a red barn and various types of livestock in the foreground, and a farmer riding a tractor. The Explore-It-Torium Manager Kelsey Williams said the mural is already a hit with visitors to the children’s museum.
“The mural just made the Farm Room come alive,” Williams said. “It’s so beautiful. We’ve had many people give us compliments about it and we’ve made sure to give Jodi total credit for her awesome work. We are so thankful for her.”
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Local artist beautifies city as this week’s MarionMade!
Reporting by Special to Marion Star, Marion Star / Marion Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
