Christopher Castle
geomantic arts
The Guide
News from Christopher
2024
My recent work has been a deep dive into the patterns of the prehistoric (5th-4th millenium BCE) Cucuteni pottery. I am fascinated by the geometry that underlies the complexities of the ceramics' painted "decoration". The often spiraling lines and shapes are masterfully laid out in integrated patterns covering the entire surface of the pots in a unified and continuous design. The sacred character of the organically conceived markings show direct references to natural forms and energies, demonstrating the Cucuteni cosmology as based in nature's cycles and rhythms. In 2023 I stayed a month at the retreat in the village of Valeni to continue this work.
Alongside my research I have embarked on the major project of documenting my life's work in a catalogue raisonné. I am creating a comprehensive survey of my work with details of title, medium, dimensions, and background information on individual works, It is a huge task as I assemble images and information on every work. So far there are about 3000 works detailed. I hope the catalogue will be published eventually.
2023
The planned exhibition in Nepal has been postponed. logistical and timing difficulties have prevented further planning for now. I hope it will be resolved eventually.
In July I spent another period in Romania working on my prints at the studio in Valeni. While there, with Michael De Styrcea I visited Dobrovat near Iasi where archaeologists Magda and Gheorghe Lazarovici have been conducting an excavation of a Cucuteni settlement site. We also visited the village of Izvoare near Piatra Neamt where Constantin Preoteasa, head of the International Center for Research into Cucuteni Culture, has been exploring the local Cucuteni site. He has offered me an exhibition during the colloquium that he organizes at the museum. This will be in the spring of 2025.
2022 and 2023
Nepal
Yana and I came to Nepal in March after a trying two years in more or less isolation in Sonoma, California. Grateful to be back here in the aura of such a spiritual center close to the Great Stupa at Boudha. I have set up a small studio for painting and printmaking and have started on a new stream of work. Plans are in place to hold an exhibition of my Nepal works in Kathmandu in 2023. Meanwhile we hope our annual visits to Romania that have been halted since 2020 on account of the pandemic and the war will resume in 2023.
May 2022.
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Our recent two-year period in California was happily punctuated by the news that one of my works, an etching entitled Feather River Goddess, has recently been accepted into the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
2020 and 2021
Though frustrating on several levels the time in Sonoma provided the opportunity for several great projects:
• Corona Meditations. a series of drawings, My early response to the appearance of the pandemic.
• 20 Monotypes. A new series of hand printed works, continuing my projects with archetypal landscape.
• Paraskeva. A traditional icon in egg tempera and gold leaf to replace the first one that was lost in the devastating fire that in 2016 consumed the village church in Romania that was its home for a few short years.
• Sacred Geometry of Pi. A journey through drawing into some highly complex figures. resulting from a course I attended with The Prince's School of Traditional Arts in London.
• A mural in Utah. In September 2021 I was invited to paint a mural for a private client in Kanab Utah. More properly it was a "portal" since it consisted of 8 panels making a large doorway into the residence. The mural consists of an evocation of an interior desert landscape peopled with spirit beings derived from local Fremont and Barrier Canyon petroglyphs.and pictographs.
• I completed the new design of my website to include an extensive archive of my work.
2024
My recent work has been a deep dive into the patterns of the prehistoric (5th-4th millenium BCE) Cucuteni pottery. I am fascinated by the geometry that underlies the complexities of the ceramics' painted "decoration". The often spiraling lines and shapes are masterfully laid out in integrated patterns covering the entire surface of the pots in a unified and continuous design. The sacred character of the organically conceived markings show direct references to natural forms and energies, demonstrating the Cucuteni cosmology as based in nature's cycles and rhythms. In 2023 I stayed a month at the retreat in the village of Valeni to continue this work.
Alongside my research I have embarked on the major project of documenting my life's work in a catalogue raisonné. I am creating a comprehensive survey of my work with details of title, medium, dimensions, and background information on individual works, It is a huge task as I assemble images and information on every work. So far there are about 3000 works detailed. I hope the catalogue will be published eventually.
2023
The planned exhibition in Nepal has been postponed. logistical and timing difficulties have prevented further planning for now. I hope it will be resolved eventually.
In July I spent another period in Romania working on my prints at the studio in Valeni. While there, with Michael De Styrcea I visited Dobrovat near Iasi where archaeologists Magda and Gheorghe Lazarovici have been conducting an excavation of a Cucuteni settlement site. We also visited the village of Izvoare near Piatra Neamt where Constantin Preoteasa, head of the International Center for Research into Cucuteni Culture, has been exploring the local Cucuteni site. He has offered me an exhibition during the colloquium that he organizes at the museum. This will be in the spring of 2025.
2022 and 2023
Nepal
Yana and I came to Nepal in March after a trying two years in more or less isolation in Sonoma, California. Grateful to be back here in the aura of such a spiritual center close to the Great Stupa at Boudha. I have set up a small studio for painting and printmaking and have started on a new stream of work. Plans are in place to hold an exhibition of my Nepal works in Kathmandu in 2023. Meanwhile we hope our annual visits to Romania that have been halted since 2020 on account of the pandemic and the war will resume in 2023.
May 2022.
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Our recent two-year period in California was happily punctuated by the news that one of my works, an etching entitled Feather River Goddess, has recently been accepted into the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
2020 and 2021
Though frustrating on several levels the time in Sonoma provided the opportunity for several great projects:
• Corona Meditations. a series of drawings, My early response to the appearance of the pandemic.
• 20 Monotypes. A new series of hand printed works, continuing my projects with archetypal landscape.
• Paraskeva. A traditional icon in egg tempera and gold leaf to replace the first one that was lost in the devastating fire that in 2016 consumed the village church in Romania that was its home for a few short years.
• Sacred Geometry of Pi. A journey through drawing into some highly complex figures. resulting from a course I attended with The Prince's School of Traditional Arts in London.
• A mural in Utah. In September 2021 I was invited to paint a mural for a private client in Kanab Utah. More properly it was a "portal" since it consisted of 8 panels making a large doorway into the residence. The mural consists of an evocation of an interior desert landscape peopled with spirit beings derived from local Fremont and Barrier Canyon petroglyphs.and pictographs.
• I completed the new design of my website to include an extensive archive of my work.
“Christopher Castle is a talented artist
who uniquely combines his skills with
a deep understanding of the spirit
of place - the subtle vibrations that
exist at sacred sites. He has traveled
widely in Europe and the United States
and has studied the cultures of Neolithic
Europe. His art and writings explore the
many layers of human consciousness and
our connection to the Earth. Christopher
Castle’s work awakens our sense of
wonder and makes our planet
seem sacred once more.”
Marija Gimbutas
Corona Meditations
