Mehl Lawson, Local Celebrity Western Artist

Artist Mehl Lawson with WR This Cats Smart

Have you ever noticed the beautiful, life-size horse statue along Bonita Road in front of the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center? His name is WR This Cats Smart, a prize-winning quarter horse.  WR’s owner Arthur Nicholas, of Rancho Santa Fe, commissioned artist Mehl Lawson to create the bronze. Placing the finished art in front of the Museum was the perfect acknowledgement salute to Mehl Lawson as the amazing artist he is and the Museum's Artist-In-Residence.

I was lucky enough to saunter into the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center that day back in 2019.  Mehl was creating this amazing sculpture, life-size and every inch sheer perfection. I could have stayed there all day inside the Museum watching Mel perform his magic.

The statute celebrates the history of horse culture in Bonita.  At one time, Bonita had the largest horse population in the nation . . .more horses than any city in any state. The statue was unveiled on April 12, 2021.

“It took six to seven months to create the sculpture here at the museum and it’s really exciting to get people visiting the museum and watch the progress of WR.

I sculpt these projects out of clay, we use a pipe and Styrofoam armature and we cover it with a skin of clay to get all the detail. Once we get that part done it goes off to my foundry and they will make a big master mold and cast it in bronze.” —Mehl Lawson

This beautiful statue has a twin. Two copies were cast and the other can be found on the Nicholas Ranch in Wyoming.

“Mehl excels at depicting the devotion between man and his horse, and his sculptures capture the spirit of the Western buckaroo—the working men of the great California and Nevada ranches. He is happy to combine the world of horses with that of fine art, and his rawhide braiding artistry.

Mehl has been a member of the Cowboy Artists of America since 1982 and has received numerous Gold and Silver Medals and Best of Show Awards at the Cowboy Artists of America show. He has been presented the Remington Award and the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award at the Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Mehl was honored with the Thomas Moran Gold Medal in 1998 at the Masters of the American West show at the Autry National Center. In 2001, Mehl became a member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association as a braider of rawhide gear. He was named Braider of the Year in 2008 by the Academy of Western Artists.”

—Cowboy Artists of America

Mehl Lawson outside the Museum with WR

"There is the same kind of magic in the hands that shape the sculptor’s clay and his rawhide braiding as there is in the hands that hold the reins of a horse."  — Mehl Lawson

There’s just so much wonderful about Mehl Lawson and so little room to write. Mehl initially moved to Bonita in 1968 as a horse trainer for Dave Phair. Never to miss an opportunity to be the best of his trade, he was successful at horse training before moving on to his artistic endeavors. To learn more about Mehl from early childhood to talented artist, you might like to read the February 2016 NRHA Reiner article about him.

Mehl is the essence in achievement in horse training, braiding, painting and sculpting. He is an extremely talented man. But my favorite thing about Mehl is that he is salt of the earth, kind and humble. Bonita is blessed to claim this good man as one of their own.

Sources: Bonita Museum & Cultural Center | Cowboy Arts of America | NRHA Reiner

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