Jim's "Politically Incorrect Dog" (at right) from 1992 is a prime example of the way he melds humor, art and technical prowess. This lifesize piece measures 26" x 64" x 22", and now resides in a private collection in Columbus, Ohio. A detail of the head (below, left) illustrates the artist's complete mastery of anatomical detail.

Because of his inimitable style, one might almost say that Mellick marks his own territory with this piece.

Jim Mellick has a serious side, too. His landmark piece, "Witness (Kosovo Dog)", below, earned the Excellence in Wood Award at the Ohio Craft Museum in 2002, and the Museum Guild Purchase Award at the 38th Annual Mid-States Craft Exhibition at the Evansville Museum.

Here's Jim's statement about this very moving work:

"I knew that when the bombing stopped in Kosovo, mass graves would be discovered, as they were in Bosnia. I identified with the fathers and sons who were separated from their families. I wanted to express the horror in a beautiful way--like Picasso's Guernica. I wanted to keep the balance of truth and beauty. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I use craftsmanship and materials to hook the viewer into the meaning of the work rather than slapping the viewer at the start. My interest is to communicate, not alienate. In my research, I could not find a breed and stature of dog from that region to carry the idea, so I used the ancient breed, the Anatolian Karabash, a shepherd's guard dog from the Turkish highlands. I like the way it's curled tail balanced the head in the chosen gesture. For the gesture, I wanted the dog to be weighted and bent low, cautious and pensive in expression. The gesture is somewhere between sniffing and pawing at the ground and getting ready to vomit. The dog's body begins to separate like cracked earth. Within the neck and the body are over 100 individually carved figures in various positions of death, as though they were thrown into a pit. Reversing the positions gave me 30 different poses of the figures, some clothed and some naked. I thought about the individuality of each victim as I carved each figure. Where I live in the country, they no longer bury the deer hit by a car, they just pour white lime over the body and leave it by the side of the road. Every day I would walk by this (one) deer and watch it slowly melt away to bone. That is where I got the idea for a white sand patina which looks a little like glass cast in sand. Then I realized that the figures looked like the people from Pompeii who were cast in Volcanic ash. Images of the Holocaust, Dante's Inferno and Michelangelo's Last Judgment came to mind as well. On first view, the figures look like viscera (bowels of the earth) or a cancerous growth that is invading the belly and neck. The viewer then sees that the convolutions are individual human forms. This is where the (loving) "slap" happens and the idea is delivered. At this point, for a moment, the craftsmanship, the aged cherry and fine woodworking become secondary to the intent of the sculpture."

For a very stark, enlarged image of this piece, please click here (http://www.jamesmellick.com/EMuseum.html)

Jim's concern with the human condition also is revealed in an earlier work, 1987's "Peace Burden". Executed in cherry, poplar and copper; the work stands 38" tall and remains part of the artist's private collection.

"This sculpture of a young llama with a family of four doves,Êwhich was selected for the national poster for the American Contemporary Works in Wood exhibition, was created in response to the strife in South America," Jim says.