{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"3406"},"altNumsArchivespace":{"label":"ArchiveSpace","value":"2005.17.2"},"copyright":{"label":"Copyright","value":"© James Castle Collection and Archive LP"},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"Gift of Dorothy Trapper Goldman"},"endDate":{"label":"End Date","value":"1970"},"sortNumber":{"label":"Sort Number","value":"2005    17    2a    b"},"invno":{"label":"Accession number","value":"2005.17.2a,b"},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Soot and saliva on found board (double-sided)"},"geographyPlaceregion":{"label":"Place/Region","value":"Garden Valley"},"media":{"label":"Media","value":{"mediaURL":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/3375/full","mediaDepartment":"Object Photographs","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"3375"}},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Untitled (Figure with Hat/Figure with Jacket)"},"geographyCity":{"value":"Garden Valley"},"textEntriesWebsitedisplaytext":{"value":["James Castle\u2019s compositions, with their atmospheric imprint and subtle nuances of texture, seem to translate his particular experiences and capture of life in rural Idaho. Born deaf, also illiterate, he forged a unique visual vocabulary away from the influences of the art mainstream and conceived his own artistic tools and techniques. Instead of conventional art materials, he used the soot\u2014dampened with his saliva\u2014from the family stove on discarded envelopes and paper goods picked from the post office and general store that his parents managed from their residence. Over five decades, he created a prolific corpus of figurative works\u2014portraits, farmlands, interior scenes\u2014imagined and real. The divisive and elongated dark form placed in front of this work recalls a Brechtian method recurrently used by Castle, which reaffirms his presence as a conscious critical observer. Valérie Rousseau, exhibition label for Six Decades Collecting Self-Taught Art: Revealing a Diverse and Rich Artistic Narrative. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2019.","The first American school to teach deaf students a codified language of signing was established in Connecticut in 1817. Before then, personal methods of communication were devised by families for use in their immediate circles. Although he was born in rural Idaho at the turn of the twentieth century, the deaf artist James Castle did not speak, sign, read, or write; he communicated with his family through his own system of hand gestures. That he was highly aware of his surroundings is evidenced by the many captivating drawings of landscapes, room interiors, and figures that he saw around him every day.Castle had plentiful materials available, as his parents\u2019 home served as the community\u2019s post office and general store, but he preferred making his own supplies using matter from his environment that connected him directly to his artmaking. He used recycled paper and envelopes, made his own implements from sharpened sticks, devised pigment from stove soot mixed with saliva and colored tissue paper ground to a pulp, and made a flour paste for his collages. Through these raw materials, Castle documented his world, silent but closely observed.Stacy C. Hollander, \"Untitled (Figure with Hat),\" exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org","Drawing"]},"collections":{"label":"Collections","value":"Works on Paper"},"geography":{"label":"Geography","value":"Garden Valley"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"154561"},"geographyState":{"value":"Idaho"},"geographyCountry":{"value":"United States"},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"0"},"people":{"label":"Artist / Maker","value":{"displayOrder":"1","personRole":"Artist","personID":"564","content":"James Castle"}},"classifications":{"label":"Classification(s)","value":"Drawings"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["James Castle\u2019s compositions, with their atmospheric imprint and subtle nuances of texture, seem to translate his particular experiences and capture of life in rural Idaho. Born deaf, also illiterate, he forged a unique visual vocabulary away from the influences of the art mainstream and conceived his own artistic tools and techniques. Instead of conventional art materials, he used the soot\u2014dampened with his saliva\u2014from the family stove on discarded envelopes and paper goods picked from the post office and general store that his parents managed from their residence. Over five decades, he created a prolific corpus of figurative works\u2014portraits, farmlands, interior scenes\u2014imagined and real. The divisive and elongated dark form placed in front of this work recalls a Brechtian method recurrently used by Castle, which reaffirms his presence as a conscious critical observer. Valérie Rousseau, exhibition label for Six Decades Collecting Self-Taught Art: Revealing a Diverse and Rich Artistic Narrative. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2019.","The first American school to teach deaf students a codified language of signing was established in Connecticut in 1817. Before then, personal methods of communication were devised by families for use in their immediate circles. Although he was born in rural Idaho at the turn of the twentieth century, the deaf artist James Castle did not speak, sign, read, or write; he communicated with his family through his own system of hand gestures. That he was highly aware of his surroundings is evidenced by the many captivating drawings of landscapes, room interiors, and figures that he saw around him every day.Castle had plentiful materials available, as his parents\u2019 home served as the community\u2019s post office and general store, but he preferred making his own supplies using matter from his environment that connected him directly to his artmaking. He used recycled paper and envelopes, made his own implements from sharpened sticks, devised pigment from stove soot mixed with saliva and colored tissue paper ground to a pulp, and made a flour paste for his collages. Through these raw materials, Castle documented his world, silent but closely observed.Stacy C. Hollander, \"Untitled (Figure with Hat),\" exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org","Drawing"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Begin Date","value":"1900"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"Early to mid-20th century"},"exhibitions":{"label":"Exhibitions","value":[{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - Sunday, September 2, 2012","exhibitionEndISODate":"2012-09-02","exhibitionID":"149","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2012-01-17","exhibitionBeginDate":"2012","exhibitionTitle":"JUBILATION an act of rejoicing | RUMINATION an act of contemplation","exhibitionEndDate":"2012"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - Sunday, September 5, 2010","exhibitionEndISODate":"2010-09-05","exhibitionID":"147","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2009-10-06","exhibitionBeginDate":"2009","exhibitionTitle":"Approaching Abstraction","exhibitionEndDate":"2010"}]},"altNums":{"label":"Alternative Numbers","value":"2005.17.2"},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"5 1/4 × 4 1/2\""}}]}