Shelby Arias Castano
Shelby Arias Castanon is based in Albert Lea, Minnesota with her loving husband, Alejandro, five cats, and one turtle. The fam moved up to Minnesota from Texas in April 2025 to seek a better quality of life, find active art communities, and be a part of the activism that they saw happening in the Midwest. First and foremost, Shelby is a writer. She studied Jane Austen and the history of the Georgian, Romantic, Victorian, and Post-colonial literature in graduate school where she earned her M.A. in English from Angelo State University. From there, she took her obsession with cringey romance novels, Pride and Prejudice, and her love of linguistics, and is currently writing the second act of her three-volume novel (wouldn't Oscar Wilde be pleased).
Laying the foundation for her affinity of writing is her love affair with linguistics. Growing up in the Southwest as the quintessential "weird girl" was a struggle. Communication in the Southwest in the 90s and 00s was all about saying what needed to be said without actually saying it. When Shelby discovered linguistics and communication theory, it was akin to finding the Holy Grail (or the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow). This discovery led her to acquire her Bachelor's in Communications and to study Technological Philosophy, the history, evolution, and acquisition of human techne of oral and written communication, in her graduate studies with Dr. Kevin Garrison.
Beyond her writing and studies, Shelby has been an educator since 2015. She is a TEA-certified Educator in Texas and a Tier 3 PELSB Teacher in Minnesota. She began her teaching career sharing her love of books (Lord of the Rings, in particular) with sophomores and seniors for the first few years of her career before traveling to Spain and Germany to teach the mechanics of English as a TEFL teacher. Upon returning to the States, Shelby earned her certification as a ESL and Special Education teacher. She currently works with Austin School and Albert Lea Area Schools in Minnesota as well as the Mayo Clinic.
Shelby is also a professional seamstress. Her skills as a seamstress were planted when she was 10, working on small projects with her Grandmother and blossomed when she took home first-place in a 4-H sewing contest as a 13-year-old (and took home one very shiny blue ribbon). As she entered college, she continued to dabble and grow her skills making clothes for herself and making cosplay outfits. In 2022, she undertook a 8-month tailoring apprenticeship and has done professional alterations and construction of garments ever since.
During COVID, Shelby and Alejandro were given several opportunities to paint murals in West Texas. It was then that Shelby began to take her art seriously and, together, they established Arias Ariadne LLC in Texas. Alejandro's art is bold and colorful, pulling on his Chicano and Mexican heritage, whereas Shelby's art is inspired by the German Neoclassical paintings she spent so much time studying in museums. Together, the contrast works incredibly well to create dynamic murals that become an experience for the viewer.
Their new mural company, based in Minnesota, is named Cosmic Whiskers. The name change came after the Castanons lost one of their family members. Reddington, their 14-year-old elder cat passed away suddenly in October, and Shelby has spent since that day processing her grief through her art. It was Reddington's passing that really sparked in her a need to create and to learn how to process disappointment. Shelby's family, on both sides, shares a generational trauma that inhibits them from processing disappointment of all kinds and, rather, they feel they must suppress it. Instead, Shelby is learning to face disappointment and, therefore, death head-on by not shying away from it. Now she seeks to feel it in its entirety to not only remain close to Reddington, but as a way to overcome the avoidance and mental programming that she inherited growing up in the Southwest.
In addition, and in Reddington's memory, she has devoted herself to the activism she has long been too shy to attempt. She now serves on the board of We All Need Food and Water and serves on the board of Leader of Today and Tomorrow where she shares her passion and expertise in communications.