Exhibitions | James Castle House

With ongoing exhibitions, the house hosts a variety of opportunities for visitors to discover James Castle, his house, and the artists who now live here.

The back bedroom hosts a permanent exhibit cataloging original materials found throughout the Castle family house, along with items specific to Castle's art making practice. These materials offer a unique view into the finishes, patterns, colors and packaging that informed both the construction of the house and are also reflected in Castle’s work.

WHAT'S ON

Shed Corner (Pink Window) 2018 by Keiran Brennan Hinton

Interlude: A Five-Year Residency Retrospective

August 17, 2023 - April 27, 2024

For the first time in its five-year history, the James Castle House’s newest exhibition – Interlude: A Five-Year Residency Retrospective – pairs contemporary artworks by James Castle House residents with original works by James Castle.

James Castle created thousands of artworks during his lifetime, the majority of which were made while he lived in the House, Shed, and Trailer at 5015 Eugene Street in Boise, Idaho. His legacy of creativity remains palpable onsite today, serving as inspiration for the creative individuals who have come as participants in the James Castle House’s Residency Program.

Through poetry, printmaking, painting, and a variety of other artistic mediums, each resident translated their time in residence into a new body of work. Although diverse, these artworks share explorations of impulse, restraint, routines, and freedom, offering fresh interpretations of the place James Castle called home for over four decades.

Developed in collaboration with guest curator Andrea Merrell, the Collection Manager at the James Castle Collection and Archive, Interlude invites viewers to explore this dialogue shared between James Castle and contemporary artists.

Featured artists: Keiran Brennan Hinton, Rachel Rickert, Cindy Steiler, Eric Follett, Kailey Barthel, A.H. Jerriod Avant, Nat Meade, Tania Alvarez, Emily Culver, Antonius-Tín Bui, Maria Michurina, and Jean Shon.

In partnership with:

James Castle Collection and Archive

Plan Your Visit

James Castle Collection - Peanut Container

Peanut container with colored wads, Courtesy of James Castle Collection and Archive

The Material Life Of James Castle

Ongoing

The Material Life Of James Castle featured in the historic back bedroom, catalogs original materials found throughout the Castle family house, along with items specific to James Castle's art making practice. These materials offer a unique view into the finishes, patterns, colors and packaging that informed the construction of the house and are also reflected in Castle’s work.

Organized by James Castle House

In partnership with:

James Castle Collection and Archive
Byron W Folwell Exhibits

PAST EXHIBITIONS

Hearth & Home

January 12 - July 29, 2023

The James Castle House is pleased to announce Hearth & Home, an exhibition that exclusively explores Castle's soot-and-spit artworks.

James Castle’s soot drawings are small, intimate, and hum with quiet energy. In soft blacks and matte greys, they chronicle many aspects of Castle’s life in Idaho. While many of these monochromatic pieces depict his home and daily views, others offer a glimpse into his imagination through abstracted and invented imagery. From these works a material autobiography emerges, capturing the very essence of the places Castle called home.

The artworks in this exhibition are part of a generous gift to the City of Boise from the James Castle Collection and Archive, as well as a donation by James W. Gilles.

Explore Hearth & Home's digital exhibition.

Ways of Knowing

February 3 - December 31, 2022

The James Castle House is pleased to announce “Ways of Knowing,” a new exhibition from guest curator Andrea Merrell. As the Collection Manager at the James Castle Collection and Archive for over two decades, Merrell has developed an incredible depth of knowledge and familiarity with James Castle’s artwork.

With this exhibition, Merrell offers a glimpse of the vast range of works Castle created in his lifetime. Through thoughtful curation, she shares with us her understanding of James Castle’s visual vocabulary, which he developed by investigating the world with his many ways of knowing.

Watch a recording of the Curatorial Talk with Andrea Merrell

Listen to Morning Edition's interview with Andrea Merrell about Ways of Knowing

Listen to Idaho Matter's interview with Andrea Merrell about Ways of Knowing

In partnership with:

James Castle Collection and Archive

Bricolage

October 1, 2020 - January 22, 2022

When considering the prolific body of James Castle’s work, it is undeniable that he was not only influenced and informed by written communication, but that he had a complex and nuanced understanding of how it functioned, despite having never learned how to read.

Castle created a wide range of works in response to his exposure to written communication. From transcriptions of the cartoons he came across in his daily perusal of the family newspaper, to highly detailed and intentional systems of signs and letterforms, his works reveal a careful attention paid to newspapers, magazines, postcards, and even branded packaging for food and other daily goods. Castle's diligent investigation and repurposing of these works brings new understanding to parts of daily life that so often go unnoticed, yet were endlessly captivating to him.

Bricolage is an exploration of James Castle’s practice of appropriating preexisting materials that were ready-to-hand and using them to create something wholly new. This collection of artworks is part of a generous gift to the City of Boise from the James Castle Collection and Archive.

James Castle (1899 - 1977), Untitled, n.d., © 2021 James Castle Collection and Archive, All Rights Reserved

Flip | Side

September 12, 2019 - September 30, 2020

Flip | Side is a collection of twelve original artworks by James Castle and twelve facsimiles, allowing both sides of each piece to be viewed simultaneously.

Over the course of his life, Castle worked methodically and privately to produce thousands of pieces of art in a wide range of materials and content. These works reveal an incredible richness to his life, both in images that examine his everyday surroundings and experiences, as well as those that suggest a deep and complex inner world full of invention and imagination.

Upon closer investigation, each artwork reveals more, providing insight into Castle, his family life, and the material culture of the time in which they lived. Beneath his sooty images and behind the work itself, we find evidence of a daily practice and a day-to-day life, of techniques and habits, of preferences and influences.

This collection of artworks is part of a generous gift of 61 pieces to the City of Boise from the James Castle Collection and Archive. View Flip | Side.

Viewshed: Impressions of Place

May 15, 2019 - August 31, 2019

The small shed that stands on the property at 5015 Eugene Street has survived for over a century, through decades of development and modernization, of changing residents and shifting property lines. It is significant not only as a monument to the history of the site, but also because it served as James Castle’s primary living space and studio for over 30 years. Throughout that time, this humble structure became the centerpiece of Castle’s existence—a place of uninterrupted peace and solitude where he created much of the work that remains today. The shed provided him the space and context to create from his memory, his observations, and his imagination. It is unsurprising that many of Castle’s works explore the shed itself. He investigates its relationship to the surrounding landscape and buildings, to reflect his own intimate experience of the space. Through his drawings, we gain insight into how he engaged with the building and its significance in his own life.

The shed today provides a vital link between the present and the past to allow us a rare glimpse of Castle’s inner life. His presence is palpable. The boards and cupboards evoke a sense of his daily life along with other traces that appear unexpectedly in the form of pencil stubs and sooty smudges that remain despite the passing decades. The shed is a crucial component to the James Castle House experience and provides depth and connection when we share the story of the remarkable artist and this site. To ensure its lasting presence, our efforts for the next few years will focus on conservation of the shed and its integral and historic value.

Organized by James Castle House

In partnership with:

James Castle Collection and Archive

Between Board and Batten: Works From The James Castle House

April 28, 2018 - May 4, 2019

Most of James Castle’s surviving artworks and artifacts likely endured decades at 5015 Eugene Street-- some bundled and tucked away, some in plain sight, and some placed between wall boards expectantly waiting for discovery.

This collection of artworks is part of a generous gift of 61 pieces to the City of Boise from the James Castle Collection and Archive in honor of James’ family who cared for him throughout his lifetime, protected his art and nurtured his creative spirit. The works in this collection range from books to soot drawings, and demonstrate the wide range of Castle’s curiosity and skill. Eleven of these artworks were found inside the James Castle House during recent renovations, a fitting discovery in the effort to invite new artistic energy into the space. The City is grateful for this gift, which allows us to bring the works back to the place where James created them.

Organized by James Castle House

In partnership with:

James Castle Collection and Archive