Pink Lady’s Slipper, 16 x 10"

Watercolor on paper

Father of Luke Mayer '21

The son of an artist and a biologist, Nick Mayer seems to have found a unique niche between these two disciplines. Nick has used his undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology from Brown University as tools to study and help in the conservation of fish. He has done so as an artist, a teacher, a research biologist, and a fly fisherman.

While investigating the effects of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill on salmon, restoring habitat for the last wild strain of steelhead in the Columbia River and studying the nesting habits of sea turtles in Costa Rica, Nick kept detailed sketchbooks to later use as references in his watercolors. A skin of his teeth survival falling overboard off a commercial fishing vessel into the Bering Sea followed by a near float plane crash in Northern Labrador inspired Nick to pursue his true calling as an artist. His paintings are not just portraits of nature, they are windows into real experience—his experience. His deep passion for aquatic life shows in each meticulous painting.

Nick has illustrated several books and regularly creates illustrations for magazines such as Anglers Journal, American Angler, and Grays Sporting Journal. His first book, Catalina Dive Buddies, was published in 2013 by Silverfish Press. Written by renowned angling author and IGFA historian Mike Rivkin and master aquanaut Jon Council, it is a coffee table art book and field guide to the fish of Catalina Island, California. Nick completed the adult coloring book Wild Oceans in the Spring of 2016 for Fox Chapel Publishing and in 2019 his latest title, An Anglers Journal was also published by Fox Chapel. He is currently working on Fish ABCs, an alphabet book for children. Nick was a finalist in the World Illustration Awards in Seoul, Korea in 2017, was awarded Artist of the Year by the Billfish Foundation in 2016 and was a Martha Stewart American Made Finalist in 2015. His work and licensed products can be seen in galleries and stores in over 30 countries around the globe.

mayer@gmavt.net

https://www.nickmayerart.com/