Artist Cliff McGaha Combines Electronics And Art To Create Gizmos

Cliff McGaha’s creations are filled with surprises and songs.

It still looks like moonlight; the sculpted head of the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, with tiny glasses, floats in another. One is Rolling Stones themed, featuring red lips, a hanging tongue, and a high-end hat cymbal; another evokes Egypt, with its clear pyramid and its pharaoh dogs. There’s even one that can be used to practice putting on a golf ball.

Some are made from old radios; some incorporate old drive-in car speakers; two are collaborations with craftsman carpenter Ron Burcham of Benton. Twinkling LED lights adorn each one.

And these are all booming stereos that McGaha – born and raised in North Little Rock – built from old furniture, pipes, instruments, wires, mason jars, light switches, carvings, and whatever else she likes.

He calls them Gizmos.

While Cliff McGaha uses Bluetooth technology in his Gizmos so that music can be played from a smartphone, tablet or computer, some come with turntables as well. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / Cary Jenkins)
It’s a sunny morning earlier this month and McGaha, a bearish build guy with gray hair, a goatee and a perpetual smile, is at Consign Design on Maumelle Boulevard in North Little Rock.

His Gizmos have been selling here for a little over two years. His brother-in-law, Steve George, first mentioned them to store owner Steve Hobbs.

“He shows up with a shelf model of one of the Gizmos,” Hobbs recalls. “When he started demonstrating this stuff, I fell in love. I said, ‘I’m sorry but I can’t write it down because I’m going to write you a check for it. This one is to me. But if you do more, I can sell them. ‘”

McGaha has sold around 40 Gizmos in the store, including one recently to former Governor Mike Huckabee. Not only is it a stereo, but Huckabee can play guitar through it as well.

Gizmo’s prices range from around $ 1,400 for a desktop model to around $ 4,000 for larger pieces.

When asked where his ideas come from, McGaha laughs. “I think my creativity grew out of too much sugar and cartoons when I was a kid.”

He studied radio, film and television at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before dropping out and interning at KAAY and KLPQ radio stations. From radio he switched to video, doing camera work and editing for live productions and Little Rock news stations.

“The video experience has taken me to a lot of places,” said the 63-year-old. “I’ve been on just about everything that flies, from Concord to hot air balloons… and I’ve pointed a camera at almost every president since Ronald Reagan.”

He also did some sculpture, which is handy for doing things like Garcia’s image.

“I just fell into [sculpture]”he said.” I have no formal training. I had play dough at home and started making cartoon characters. “

A still moonlight pattern is one of the most popular versions of Cliff McGaha’s Gizmos. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / Cary Jenkins)
A few years ago, McGaha had open heart surgery to repair an aneurysm. Boredom caught up with him during his recovery and he started making lamps and selling them at flea markets.

Then he stumbled upon steampunk, the aesthetic that marries retro steam-powered technology with a touch of futuristic sci-fi and the lamps quickly gave way to what has become Gizmos with their switches, gauges, lights and sounds.

There is another influence that is evident in the collaborations with Burcham.

“There is a steampunk side”, explains the carpenter and artist, “but what I do is more art deco, so I call it deco-punk”.

Burcham and McGaha hit it off when they first met a few years ago at a party at Consign Design.

One of the pieces they made together is called Chakte Viga, a round coffee table named after the wood that forms the ring that wraps around the speaker covers. Other woods used in the table include white oak, red oak, walnut, bird’s eye maple, cedar burl, cypress, ebony and more.

Just before the pandemic, Burcham started a large piece inspired by a vintage industrial clock.

“About a year ago we got back together and I showed it to Cliff and he took it over from there,” Burcham said.

McGaha outfitted him with pipes, vintage speakers, and a plasma globe and turned him into Gizmo.

“Basically I just find something and hand it to him and he does the rest,” Burcham explains.

This Gizmo is a collaboration between Cliff McGaha and craftsman carpenter Ron Burcham of Benton. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / Sean Clancy)
Right at the start of the pandemic, McGaha retired from her job at AV Arkansas, which provides audiovisual support for meetings and other events. Now he devotes his time to making Gizmo with the help of his wife, Brenda, in their Jacksonville home. And he went from building them while sitting in his chair in their living room to a real store.

“I like to say this is my version of making birdhouses [in retirement], but my thud, ”he laughs.

He and Brenda browse flea markets, estate sales, eBay, and other sources of material, and then the creative process begins.

“Watch a song for a long time and it kind of dictates what I do,” he says. “I’m going to get an idea and get excited about it and go from there.”

As more and more people find out about his work, they also want to contribute.

“I started getting calls and texts from people who wanted to know, ‘Hey, can you use that? They find things and text me to help me. Where is that from ? You sell something to someone and then they want to participate.

Steve Hobbs, owner of Consign Design in North Little Rock, watches a golf ball roll away from a golf-themed Gizmo created by Cliff McGaha. The Gizmos are stereos that McGaha created from reused parts. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / Sean Clancy)
Ancient radios are ideal Gizmo vessels, he says. The drive-in speakers, RCA models from the 1950s, are perfect for housing new components.

McGaha says he likes to keep modern elements out of sight and has clever ways of disguising each unit’s subwoofer. Sometimes he’ll use old five-gallon metal gas cans that he fitted with the subwoofer. For the moonlight again, he used an old copper vessel. Another Gizmo’s subwoofer is hidden in a teapot. Lately he’s been hiding subwoofers in cajons, a box-shaped percussion instrument.

The speakers on the back of the Gizmos are angled to bounce sound off a wall, a technique inspired by Paul W. Klipsch, who founded a high-end audio company in Hope in 1946.

The Gizmos are equipped with a Bluetooth amplifier that allows the user to play music from a smartphone, computer or tablet. McGaha has also made Gizmos with turntables for vinyl record lovers.

Making Gizmos ticks all the right boxes for McGaha.

“I was trained as an audio and video engineer. It mixes it all up with sculpture. It’s two different sides of the brain, electronics and art, and I can use it all.”