Art in the Castle

It was quite the celebrity turnout when the Santa Barbara Museum of Art launched its latest exhibition The Private Universe of James Castle, which runs through September 17.

With more than 90 works, the show features many of the most beautiful and accomplished drawings created by the extraordinarily gifted, profoundly deaf, self-taught artist, many of them from the collection of the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation.

His daughter, seven-time Emmy winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, attended the bustling opening bash along with her filmmaker husband Brad Hall and their two sons, singer-songwriter Henry and actor Charlie, with veteran beloved comedienne Carol Burnett and her husband Brian Miller joining in on the festivities.

The exhibition highlights the artist’s remarkable technical skills and attempts to foster a better understanding of his evocative and unconventional images, particularly his landscapes and architectural interior scenes.

Among the art aficionados turning out were Robert and Christine Emmons, Janet Garufis, Penny Jenkins, Richard and Melanie De Schutter, Kandy Luria-Budgor, Nick and Rosemary Mutton, Larry Feinberg and Starr Siegele, Luke Swetland, Joan Tapper, Mark Whitehurst and Kerry Methner, Robert Castle, and Peter and Karen Brill.