Jim McLain is a renowned and admired woodturning artist based in Socorro, New Mexico. Jim’s pieces are unique and meticulously created. This includes the famous Chaco series, which features inlays of turquoise, stone and dinosaur bone, plus petroglyphs. His work has been included in prestigious Santa Fe galleries for 25+ years - and he has been a long time user of our green wood stabilizer Pentacryl - since 2009!
From our interview with Jim:
“I have always been inspired by Native American culture and the ancient dwellings throughout the southwest. Chaco is a very special place among them.
"My boss for more than 20 years was James Shaffner WetherilI. He was the grandson of Richard Wetherill, the primary archeologist at Chaco and Mesa Verde. James (Jim) wrote a book about his grandfather, that I was lucky enough to read one of the final drafts. Unfortunately, the book was never published.
"In the book, I learned some key facts that I have incorporated into my work. The Native Americans that worked with Richard at Chaco called the ones that lived there originally the “Ancient Ones”. I have a series within the Chaco series called the Ancient Ones where I incorporate dinosaur bone into the piece as they are the real ancient ones, but they have no connection to Chaco.
From Jim McLain series, "The Ancient Ones"
"As far as the turquoise bricks go, turquoise was found at Chaco, but in the form of beads and heishi.
"One of my other series within the Chaco series is called Cave Seven. This series was inspired by Jim’s book. Cave Seven is one of the most significant archeological finds in North America.
The story goes something like this. When Richard first encountered Cave Seven, there was an Anasazi ruin in the cave that had been partially excavated. Richard and company decided to excavate deeper within the cave and found the remains of the first Basket Maker People in North America. These people or culture, date back to BC times, far before Chaco times."
< "Cave Seven" from Jim McLain's Chaco Series
To say that Jim is prolific is an understatement. Check out this photo of his backyard! "Two years ago I had my children help me pull all my seasoned blanks out of the sheds for my birthday. We organized them by species. This is why I have cut back on my green turning, although I miss getting out in the woods looking for trees."
When he does woodturning, Jim uses Pentacryl Green Wood Stabilizer. Click here for PT2 of our interview with Jim, including a beautiful gallery of pieces by Jim and the reasons why he uses Pentacryl for his turnings.
