GLOUCESTER.- The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to present an exhibition of the works of sculptor James T. McClellan (1910 – 2005) on view from August 2 through October 19, 2008.

James T. McClellan was born in Haverhill, MA, and raised in Andover. He attended Governor Dummer Academy in Byfield and graduated in 1934 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He began to sculpt at the age of twenty-one and studied sculpture in Boston with Charles Hopkinson and in New York with Harvey Dunn. He also attended the George Demetrios School of Drawing & Sculpture which held winter classes in Boston and summer classes in the Folly Cove area of Gloucester. McClellan lived for a number of years in Folly Cove where he served as studio assistant to George Demetrios and got to know other notable Cape Ann sculptors including Walker Hancock and Paul Manship.

McClellan moved to Ipswich in 1947 after four years in the Army during World War II. Initially he worked in construction and helped to build the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge over the Annisquam River. He also worked in boatyards in Newburyport, Salem and Gloucester. By the mid-1960s he was sculpting full-time on commission from a self-built studio in the barn next to his Ipswich home.

McClellan created both indoor and outdoor installations in wood—including ebony, teak, antique mahogany, black walnut, cherry and apple—as well as in iron, stone, lead, ceramic, brass, gold leafing and polychrome. His subjects ranged from people and animals to remarkable creatures: mermaids, dragons, griffins, phoenixes, sea monsters, and seahorses, all inspired by Norse and Greek mythology. During his long career McClellan also worked with Gloucester’s C.B. Fisk Organ Company, creating elaborately carved wood housings for organs.

McClellan’s work has been exhibited widely in the Northeast, at New York’s National Academy of Design, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was a member of the Copley Society of Boston, and was awarded the Prix de Rome twice. On Cape Ann, McClellan is probably best known for his carved wooden doors which for several years served as the entrance to the Sawyer Free Library, as well as a figurehead that once hung on The Ship Restaurant on Route 1 in Saugus.