Freddy Caston was a lifelong, prolific artist. Caston’s paintings hang at Yale, UC Santa Barbara, and Antioch University. In addition to numerous exhibitions in Santa Barbara, his work was also shown in major galleries in London, New York, Miami, and San Francisco. In Santa Barbara, Caston served as a director of the S.B. Art Association and was art director and set designer for S.B. Summer Stock theater company, becoming a mentor, a guide, and a friend to countless people.
Caston was born in New York in 1927, one of two children of Polish immigrants Abraham Caston and Helen Papke. He sketched often as a child and was particularly enamored with Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He wanted a poster for his bedroom wall so badly that he drew one. Since his parents had preselected his career options as “doctor or engineer,” he was thrilled to learn, at the age of 13, that a cousin was attending art school.
“For the first time, I realized there was a viable life-path in the arts,” Caston said. He took a trip to Toronto, Canada, and had the opportunity to visit the studio of the artist Frederick Horsman Varley, which further fueled his interest.
