A Native New Mexican, Paula Castillo attended Yale University after high school and then worked in an electronics factory where she began to forge her early career in contemporary sculpture. Castillo holds an MFA in 3D Studio from the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, NM, and has produced a range of work from small-scale, intimate sculpture to large-scale public work. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and has won numerous significant public art commissions including work for the New Mexico History Museum, a large-scale public sculpture in South Korea for UNESCO.