James Castle is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and artist based in

Malmesbury, Wiltshire Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

. The majority of his work is carved in wood; there are also sculptures modelled in plaster and clay, some of which have been cast into bronze. Castle was born in 1946, in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was educated at Ealing School of Art, London; Winchester School of Art, Winchester, where he was taught by Heinz Henghes; and the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, London. He worked as a senior lecturer in sculpture at the

University of Gloucestershire , mottoeng = In Spirit and Truth , established = , type = Public , endowment = £2.4 m (2015) , chancellor = Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie , vice_chancellor ...

, Cheltenham. A lot of Castle's work depicts loosely, or cryptically anthropomorphic animals. He says: "I think one of the reasons I began to use animals as a metaphor for the human condition came from the fact that we like to bestow these creatures with the same kinds of emotions as our own, without ever really knowing what is going on... this 'one step removed' from our reality is of interest to me."James Castle, quoted by Paul Greenhalgh, from 'The Sculpture of James Castle'; exhibition catalogue He was an invited artist at the

Royal West of England Academy The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...

in 2006. He exhibits with the Compass Gallery, Glasgow, and with the Bohun Gallery, Henley upon Thames.

References

External links

*
Essay about James Castle's recent workJames Castle at Art UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle, James 1946 births Living people Scottish sculptors Scottish male sculptors Artists from Aberdeen People from Malmesbury Alumni of the Royal College of Art Academics of the University of Gloucestershire Alumni of the University of Southampton