Mel Shaw Exhibition

The Mel Shaw: An Animator on Horseback is an exhibition currently located at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Mel Shaw was born in 1914 in New York, but his family moved to California in 1928. Mel Shaw was an animator who worked for The Walt Disney Studios for many years. Shaw first met Walt Disney while they were playing Polo in the 1930’s. Where they became friends and Shaw started working with Disney on many movies. Among these movies Shaw worked on included Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.

Shaw was a storyteller and would find inspiration in anything that he created. I had never heard of Mel Shaw before but when I saw his exhibition I thought lets see what he has done. I was so excited because I realized that he worked on some of the best-animated Disney movies ever. The first thing I noticed was that he worked on The Fox and the Hound and then I saw the sketches that he made for Dumbo and was completely speechless.

After walking through the exhibition completely I learned that Shaw didn’t just draw and paint for Disney but he also created his own work. There were paintings of horses, centaurs, and landscapes that were full of life and colors. His works have an animated technique combined with a life like feeling. Shaw not only made sketches but also would paint with different types of paint, which included watercolor and oil paints. He also made clay models to create sculptures and ceramics. 

I am glad that I was able to see this exhibition because it gave me a chance to see one of the artists that helped create the Disney movies we all know and love, and to see his sketches and paintings that helped contribute to making the movies.