John Terkin was born in New York City, educated at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, New York School of Fine and Industrial Arts, and studied in Europe for several years. He came to New Mexico in the late 1930s under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project. Terkin originally worked in Chaves County where he produced busts of local pioneers. The four works are of John Chisum, Joseph C. Lea, John J. Hagerman, and Amelia Bolton Church. All are exhibited at the Chaves County Historical Center. He was later assigned to the Forest Service at Bandelier. Terkin was told about Bandelier's book, The Delight Makers, and he sculpted a figure of Topanashka, the novel's hero of Frijoles. The sculpture was called "Arrowed Death."
From the guide to the Collection of Correspondence concerning the Sculpture, "Arrowed Death", 1938-1939, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)
