Few people know the difference between a mentalist and a magician. But Nat Lawson certainly does.

The young mentalist sensation walked on stage at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury on Tuesday evening with only a sketchpad and sharpie, no cards up his sleeves or bunny-packed hats, and mesmerized a packed audience.

“This is my fifth time performing this show since I debuted it in January,” he said. Nat is a 16-year old Rockport, Me. native, who also has Vineyard ties — he is a grandson of David McCullough.

While magic uses slight of hand or deception to create an illusion, mentalism exhibits predictable mental actions, according to Nat. He is also a certified hypnotist.

“If you can understand the mind, you understand everything because it’s the mind that understands everything else,” he said.

Powers of observation and persuasion, by way of a sketch pad. — Ray Ewing

“I got a magic book when I was eight and transitioned into mentalism over a period of a few years,” he added. “I officially ditched magic a year and a half ago.”

The mentalist separated his performance into two distinct acts. His first act incorporated an array of paper balls, lottery tickets, sketchpads and markers to trigger actions from audience members. His second act focused on mind reading. Children “oo-ed” and “ahh-ed” with glee every time Nat correctly predicted the secret confessions of anonymous audience members from an on-stage reader.

The humid night concluded with a hybrid trick inspired from the show’s first two acts. Nat intuited the expressions of his on-stage volunteer to accurately predict various times depicted on a watch. A round of applause ushered the mentalist off-stage, as the crowd cheered for more.

The West Tisbury Library Foundation board produces the Tuesdays at Twilight series at the Grange Hall. Starting two years ago as a fundraiser for the West Tisbury Library, the series typically features live music. The board decided to take a chance on something new when they heard about Nat.

“He’s just an amazing young man,” said West Tisbury Library Foundation board member Jeff Meeks. “To think of someone so young with such an amazing talent, it’s out of the ordinary and self-driving.”

Nat continues his act off-Island with three more shows this summer. Then he leaves for Argentina to study Spanish and sharpen his show’s technique, before heading to college in the fall to study psychology. He graduated two years early from Camden Hills Regional High School.

Nat also recently completed his web series Connections. The series demonstrates his mentalist performances on random people that he encounters in the street. Visit natlawson.com to see for yourself.