And welcome back to Idaho.
Today, Boise has such a vibrant
art scene from the towering
murals in downtown to Freak Alley
to the Idaho Modern Art Museum,
and another gallery showcases local artists.
It's the James Castle house offering
artists a chance to have residency,
so here with us we have Mackenzie
Dunstan and local artist Emily
Culver to tell us all about this.
I was so excited to hear about this.
I have to admit I've grown up
in this community and the James
Castle house is actually new to me,
so explain the James Castle house.
Yeah, so I think to explain
the James Castle house,
we have to introduce James Castle.
OK, so James Castle was in Idaho artist.
He was a deaf man.
He was a self-taught artist and
he lived and worked in Boise
for over 40 years generating a
massive body of artwork that is
not only still here locally in
our local museums and galleries,
but as far as the Smithsonian and
galleries and museums all across the world.
So really an incredible view into
daily life in Idaho and a really
imaginative creative person.
That's fantastic. OK, So what
is the James Castle house then?
Yeah, so the James Castle house
was his residence for those
40 years that he was in Boise.
It's operated now, managed by the Boise
City Department of Arts and History.
So it's a cultural site and museum
where we offer exhibitions, talks,
workshops and other programs including
our artist in residence program
OK, which leads us to yeah.
So tell us about this.
About the artist in residence program.
What is it? And then I would love
to hear about your absolutely
yes, of course so.
Artisan Residence Program is a
chance for emerging and mid career
artists who actually live and work
on site at the James Castle House,
so they apply to be a part of this program.
There's a whole selection committee
that happens to select artists
to come and live and work,
and they create a new body of work
while they're here that's supposed to
be inspired by Boise, our community,
or the the history and legacy of the site,
and that's how we end up with amazing
artists like Emily who come from.
Far away to come be at our space.
OK, so you come from far away how far away
currently I'm living in
Virginia OK, alright and
then how did you hear about the James Castle
resident artist in residence program? I
heard about it through individuals
who are part of the department and
it seemed like an amazing opportunity
and like such a wonderful gift of
time and space to be creative.
Which in a day like today
you don't always get.
Yeah I absolutely agree.
So tell us about your art though.
What type of art do you like to create
absolutely?
So I classify myself as a metalsmith.
I make objects, sometimes jewelry,
so I'm working with fire and
hammers and sometimes computer aided
design a whole bunch of stuff.
Yes, so I've been.
It's been a little chemistry
workshop experiment back there
in the artists and residency
suite at the James Castle House.
I love that. OK, so you you like to kind
of get a little dirty in your heart,
right? You're you're in there.
It's kind of tactile really really hands on.
What do you love so much about the
art that you create? You know, I love
seeing how people interpret
the work that I make.
Yeah, it, they're very open objects.
They are suggestive,
but there's a lot of room for people
to find themselves in the work,
and so I always love hearing
what others think of it and
having those dialogues.
That's my most favorite part. And
what does the artist in residency
program provide to you as an artist?
What are you getting out of this
so much? I have an amazing studio
space with the best light ever.
I have a wonderful little apartment
that I've had all to myself,
which has been amazing.
And I've also had open studios
and have been in dialogue
with members of the Community,
which has been a really
rewarding experience as well. Ohh
that's fantastic. OK?
So then how do we go see your art?
When are you going to be in
residency and when do we get to
go see some of your displays?
So this is the perfect time because
I'm wrapping up my residency.
OK and I will have a final exit.
I'll have a talk on Friday,
this upcoming Friday. Oh really.
And then the gallery will be open where
people can come and see the work and
maybe hold the work on Saturday. OK
so Saturday. OK so Friday we
get to hear from you Saturday
we can come and see the work.
Yes that you've been so you've
been working so hard on.
Yeah polling that's the work right away.
It's so hard on alright so for
artists though in our community and
then beyond who might be interested
in taking advantage of the program.
Just as Emily has,
how do they do that where they go?
For more info,
yeah? So you can check out our
website jamescastlehouse.org.
We actually just closed our residency
call for this upcoming year.
We open it up annually and
we really do encourage.
Local and regional artists who
apply because this space really
is an incubator for creativity and
we love to see the connection of
our local artists with our local
community while also bringing
in artists from other places to
feed into our community even more
absolutely that opportunity for collaboration
only is it gives more inspiration, right?
Absolutely a little more fuel to that fire,
and that's what I think everyone,
especially artists, really thrive for right?
Agreed and then so you would mention
that you've closed for this year.
But when is the calendar
date that usually opens?
So those watching?
We're inspired,
they want to be a part of this can
put it on the calendar and say I'm
gonna keep an eye out for that.
Yeah, so we typically open our call
in the late spring or early summer
of every year so and it's open for
six to 8 weeks and then we close and
go through that selection process.
Alright, excellent.
Both of you. Thank you so much.
It's so exciting to have you here and
contributing to the our local art
as well with your outside influence.
Very important and thank you so
much for offering this program.
We just know that it's going to continue
to grow as a gem here in our community.