Texas Rangers
From the left, Granbury artist Mike Tabor stands next to Hall of Famer Adrian Beltré.
When Granbury artist Mike Tabor got the call to sculpt Adrian Beltré’s statue, the clock started ticking — seventy-five days to go from clay to bronze. The result? A life-size tribute that captures one of Texas’s favorite Rangers in a moment meant to embody his spirit, ready to greet fans outside Globe Life Field on August 22.
Though only Tabor and Betré’s family have seen the near-finished work, Tabor has experienced this statue a thousand times — in his mind, in the clay, in the mold, in the welding bay. For Tabor — one of the most respected American western expressionists — this statue’s unveiling marks the culmination of intense focus and sacrifice coming to fruition after years of hard work.
Born and raised in Texas, Tabor’s formal art training began at Tarleton State University. After graduating in 1980, he spent thirty years teaching art at Granbury High School, eventually becoming the Fine Arts Department chair for Granbury ISD. Balancing his role as an educator with a growing art career, Tabor dabbling in paintings, assemblages, sculptures, and large-scale public projects.
“I’ve always done art from the time I was a little fella to now,” he says. “It seemed second nature.”
Texas Rangers
His professional art journey started in an unlikely place: illustrating beef cattle for publications. “A lot of producers think they’ve got an outstanding bull and want to advertise him,” he explains. “That’s how I got into the professional art business — drawing for beef cattle publications — about 38 years ago.”
When it came to the Beltré statue, Tabor’s process was intense and precise. “Usually, when doing sports figures or soldiers, you select the pose first,” he explains. “Adrian had already picked the pose he wanted, so that part was solved.” From there, Tabor always begins with the head — the piece that “sets the whole tone” — before moving to the base, which in this case included the entire batter’s box and home plate.
This was a massive undertaking. “I used PVC pipe, and Styrofoam to build the armature, sculpting the clay thinly to avoid too much weight in one area,” he says. “We had 75 days to complete the sculpting. It was during the holidays — I missed Thanksgiving and Christmas — but I finished in 73 days.”
Of course, Tabor wanted more time. “I would’ve loved a couple more weeks to tweak it, but we didn’t have the luxury.”
After sculpting came the long wait for casting. “There are very few foundries that do art casting, even in Texas or the U.S.,” he says. “There’s a line to get in. The foundry had it for a long time.” Now, the bronze pieces are being welded together and prepped for installation — slated for August 20, with the unveiling two days later.
Throughout the project, Tabor connected with Beltré remotely. “I sent a questionnaire to get his body measurements — head length, forearm length — and we Zoomed back and forth,” he recalls. “He came out to the studio in December, brought his family, and they all liked it.” Tabor praises Beltré’s character. “He’s a very nice guy, easy to talk to — everybody’s favorite player.”
Texas Rangers
The statue’s creation was a sprint, but for Tabor, it’s also a reflection of a lifetime of work and ethos. Coming from a working family of ranchers and builders, he embraces the process and discipline required. “I’m real pleased to have won the bid and to do it,” he says. “Nobody’s seen it in metal yet. We’re excited to see it go from clay to metal, and I hope everybody’s happy with it.”
Baseball has been a lifelong passion for Tabor, who played the game until college. Meeting a hero like Beltré was “neat,” though he admits he’s “past starstruck.”
Even now, with the Beltré statue nearing completion, Tabor juggles other projects — paintings, commissions, upcoming statues, and art shows. “I’m super backed up, but I’m very blessed to have work.”
His art style is rooted in a love of the human figure — “my senior thesis was on figure drawing” — and an embrace of American expressionism. “I’m more adept at designing than painting,” he says, influenced by the pop-art giants of his youth like Andy Warhol and Peter Max. Tabor calls his work “postmodern western art” — a blend that once confused galleries because it was “too western” for the contemporary crowd and “too contemporary” for traditional western collectors.
“Public art is a great way to merge the feeling of space to an artistic representation,” Tabor says. “The challenge becomes not only the art but the way it occupies its surroundings and the visceral feeling it brings to the viewer.”
