Diorama of Georgia Ave. Store in 1927, 1983
Mixed Media, 31" x 20" x 6"
Diorama of 1870 Hardware Store, 1983
Mixed Media, 31" x 20" x 6"
Jim McCullough was born in Chicago in 1924. He holds a B.S.M.E. from the University of New Mexico and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. As a retired colonel who spent thirty years as an Air Force pilot, engineer and logistician, he began making dioramas in 1974, each of which represent a variety of themes such as historical, wildlife and nautical scenes. Titled “American Heritage Dioramas in Perspective,” the ongoing series painstakingly re-creates the interiors of such architectural icons as the one-room schoolhouse, the post office, and various stores and churches, each complete with hand-carved furnishings. McCullough has created approximately 120 unique dioramas that meticulously render interiors of the veritable world, in which the viewer’s eye may become lost.
*Excerpted from Tools as Art: the Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.