The Chapel of Jimmy Ray

Before his death in 2021, Anado McLauchlin built this creative oasis, one of many immigrants to have found their artistic calling in San Miguel de Allende. He named the complex after his father, James Raymond “Jimmy Ray” McLauchlin.

The chapel complex includes La Casa de las Ranas (The House of Frogs), the private home of McLauchlin and his husband Richard, as well as a gallery and gardens strewn with artwork and supplies. McLauchlin’s art is mostly mixed media, as the artist uses a found object approach to architecture and sculpture.

The buildings of the house and galleries are covered in brightly colored mosaics, most of which incorporate mirror pieces. This technique also extends to the large-format and framed sculptures.

Anado adopted his current name after traveling in India (it means “silence” in Sanskrit), and his art uses elements of that country’s cultures in addition to those from Mexico and the United States. As such, you can find Hindu religious imagery next to plastic luchador figures and cowboy pictures in his works.