Herb Mignery

Born 1937 Bartlett, NE (USA)

The artist grew up on the Mignery ranch near Bartlett, Nebraska, where his family has ranched for over 100 years. It was assumed he would be a rancher, but instead his childhood interest in drawing led him into a career in art. He was employed as an illustrator in the army and on leaving the army in 1963, he began a career in commercial art. He would pursue a parallel career in the fine arts, and eventually he devoted himself entirely to the fine arts. An experiment with casting bronze sculpture in 1973 led him to pursue a career as a sculptor. His knowledge of working ranch life and his interest in the history of the West have guided his very successful career as a sculptor in bronze, specializing in working cowboys, ranch hands and their horses. He has numerous bronzes in private, corporate and public collections around the country. Some of his sculptures may be seen in Central Park Mall in Omaha, and he has also donated bronzes to the town of Bartlett, Wheeler County, Nebraska. His sculpture for the Neihardt Center in Bancroft Nebraska shows the poet John Neihardt taking notes during his interviews with Black Elk on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1931.

Mignery continues to draw, with works including book illustrations, calendar artwork, greeting cards and other media, and a series of comic cowboy cartoons that have appeared regularly in Western Horseman magazine since 1985.

Heritage Room collections include a small bronze by Mignery, "The Blizzard of '88."

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Places Lived

Nebraska Sandhills

Author Of

Visual Work
Other

Keywords

Cowboys; Cartoons

Education

Wayne State College, Wayne, NE, School of Arts and Humanities, 1955-1959

Occupation

Sculptor
Illustrator
Freelance Writer

Places Worked

U.S. Army
Cornhusker Press, Hastings, NE
True West Magazine
Ad Agencies

Honors

Goergey Phippen Memorial Award for best bronze sculpture, 1977
'Best of Show Award' at the 1982 National Western Artists Show in Lubbock, Texas
Best of Show and the Western Art Associates Kieckhefer Award at the Cowboy Artists of America Show in Phoenix, Arizona
Norris Foundation Award at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles
Leonard J. Meiselman Memorial Award for sculpture at the National Sculpture Society in New York
Outstanding Alumni, Wayne State College, 2016

Associations

Founder of Cowboy Cartoonists International
Cowboy Artists of America
National Sculpture Society

Bibliography

The Best of Mignery. 1985.
14 Carrot Mignery. 1990.
Western Horseman Collection by Mignery: A Collection of Humorous Western Art. 1991.

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