Indian Wells Air Museum
Hello! My name is Eric Mack. I am a retired, USAF, aircraft mechanic (2A675). I am a woodworker by natural ability, and inclination. I have a certain eyeball and knack for creating edgy, wood built novelties, using rusty screws & nails, rough-cut lumber, and vintage Americana. I have no formal education in woodworking or cabinetry; all hands on, trial and error. I have a few college degrees that are 180 out from wood working, however this is what I enjoy doing, and seems to be a part of my naturally given talent.
Since I was a kid, under 10, I have always had that weird call to look at things, pull them apart, and wonder about how they work. I really enjoy building things out of wood that have some type of function or use. Living in the southwest for over 10 years, strongly influenced that original artistic curiosity.
I stopped turning a wrench for Uncle Sam in 2009, and opened a successful, architectural salvage style store, for builder/picker types, in New Mexico. I was able to further improve upon my skill set of building unique pieces of Americana using things I found at auctions, estate sales, salvage yards, and even super small town shops! Things on the side of the road are not beyond my attention! Too, many farmhouse doors in the middle of nowhere have been knocked on to ask about the pile of lumber and rusted out salvage in the front yard! I am an original picker, from the early 90's. I lived in a rural setting, and running a table saw with the music up, in the middle of the night, was not a bad thing !
Everyday things that had a prior use, have a second life as something outside of its original purpose; functionally or artistically, while still holding on to that warm, vintage feel of the 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s! I like the iconography from these periods, also.
Living and enjoying the warm air, and never ending picking of original Americana in southwest (New Mexico and Texas, mostly) for 11 years, I returned home to my native Pasadena, in March 2013 to try my hand at building unique pieces once again here in So California. And also to help my Mom.
Thanks for visiting.
More of my art can be found on Instagram: “ericsvintagewoods”