Cozy Cottage Trailer, circa 1964, Tom Trusky Papers, Special Collections and Archives, Boise State University.
James Castle (1899 – 1977), Untitled (Castle House), n.d., © 2021 James Castle Collection and Archive, All Rights Reserved
In 1963, eleven years after James Castle’s art was first shown to people outside his immediate circle, the steady sale of his drawings brought enough income for his family to purchase this 1950 model Cozy Cottage trailer on James’ behalf.
Although secondhand, the trailer represented a significant upgrade in Castle’s living situation from the nearby shed he had inhabited for over thirty years. All accounts suggest he was delighted with his new home and workspace. The purchase fulfilled Castle’s longstanding wish for a place of his own. He often expresses this desire in ethereal drawings showing variations of a house in a brilliantly colored landscape—what Castle’s family called his "dream house."
The trailer served as Castle’s home and studio for the remaining fourteen years of his life.
