CAMBRIDGE − An Ohio man who has created a traveling display of wooden memorial sculptures to honor military dogs will be at Salt Fork Lodge and Conference Center in June.
James Mellick of Milford Center created the Wounded Warrior Dogs Project. The award-winning and record-setting project has been displayed at the National Military Museums of the Air Force, Marines and the U.S. Army over the last six years.
The dog is the “totem animal” of the human being and many heroic stories can be told through a special bond between dog and human, he said in an annoucement.
Mellick has also created a new display of canine sculptures that speak to the companionship of The Dogs of War and Peace and stories about real K9 teams. This new group of dogs is being displayed closer to home in the Midwest, at smaller venues and veterans’ events.
Mellick will will give a slide talk about the journey, the making and the stories of the Wounded Warrior Dogs Mission and the heroes he has met along the way at 5 p.m. June 19, at Salt Fork Lodge. He will be joined by a representative of the Veteran Companion Animal Services (VCAS) of Delaware Ohio. The charity rescues shelter dogs and trains them as companion animals for veterans with PTSD. Mellick’s personal goal is to provide the pairing of one dog and one veteran each year.
This will be followed by a golf outing on June 20, with proceeds to benefit the Veteran Companion Animal Services. For more information about the artist talk and golf outing, contact Christie Bobbit at 740-435-9073.
Copies of his book “Honoring K9 Warriors in Wood” will be available for purchase.
About the artist
Mellick grew up in Wellington, Ohio, before attending Greenville University in Illinois. He earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. He has taught sculpture at colleges in New Hampshire, New York, Michigan and Ohio. When he is not teaching he is creating art.
His life as an artist changed when the display of the Wounded Warrior Dogs Project won the grand prize by the popular vote of the people in Michigan, in 2016. He donated one-tenth of his winnings to the K9’s for Warriors Charity.
See six decades of his work at www.jamesmellick.com
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