By Sarah Bean
James Mellick pulls life out of maple, walnut and cedar, telling stories of dogs with bright eyes and attentive tails and battle scars.
James Mellick
In 2015, Mellick created the Wounded Warrior Dogs collection. Eight sculptures tell the stories of military dogs with various injuries, each one representing an injury their veteran counterparts have suffered from. The eighth is a plain box with a flag draped over it. Mellick’s initial aspiration was to raise awareness about veterans, but it soon became a means of healing injuries that go unseen.
Approximately 10-20% of war veterans suffer from PTSD. Many of them do not receive help. A doctor can help them re-learn how to walk on a prosthetic, or ease torn muscles back into use, but even this can often go unseen by the very people who cheer for their heroes.