Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Jim Colclough was an ingenious carver who created humorous figures that often expressed his political and social views. After Colclough had an unsuccessful foray into business, he became a carnival man. Travelling with small carnivals he called “picnics,” he operated rides for children. Colclough designed and built two of the rides he operated: a baby automobile ride and a mule-powered ride somewhat like a merry-go-round.
After Colclough’s wife died in 1961, he felt he finally had the time to fulfill his long-time urge to create. He applied various stains and finishes to his works but used paint sparingly; producing a body of work containing two to three hundred sculptures.
– Rosenak, Chuck and Jan. Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century
American Folk Art and Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, Inc., 1990.