Castle Shadow 1
Castle Shadow 1
- Creator: Rachel Rickert
- Date: 2019
- Location: Boise City Hall, 1st Floor, Arts & History, Work Room, Unit E, Shelf/Drawer 1, Slot/Box 2
- Types: paintings (visual works), oil paintings (visual works)
- Materials: oil paint (pigmented coating), canvas
- Collection: James Castle House Artist in Residence Works
"This time and space to focus only on art making, as well as the very different environment, led my work into drastically new territory. Being in a completely new space allowed my work to shift into unexpected places as I absorbed and reflected upon my new surroundings. The wall of windows in the studio provided me with more than just incredible light to work in but inspired me to grasp light as a subject in itself. I was so drawn to the view outside those windows, the expanse of the sky and the hills, something completely foreign to me at the time as I was living in New York. The shadow of the house as it passed over the lawn became a new routine in my life, watching it shift across the grass and gravel, and so I began to paint it. These shadow paintings, while rooted in reality and painted perceptually, pushed my imagery closer to abstraction in a very unfamiliar way." "In these new bodies of work, I turned my gaze outward, painting the shadow of the structure that housed me, as opposed to the limits of the walls themselves. In the shifting house shadow, I found a metaphor for the impermanence of this space as my home, despite beginning to be familiar with its patterns. The works I made at the James Castle House are not only about the quality of physical light, but illuminating certain emotional states, bringing vulnerable mindsets into the light of day." - Rachel Rickert
