about the artist
Nick Mayer has found a unique niche between the disciplines of Art and Biology. Nick’s undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology from Brown University allowed him to spend the earlier parts of his adult life working as a fisheries biologist, traveling around North and Central America studying and helping to improve fish populations. Now his work is devoted to capturing these beautiful creatures on paper.
While investigating the effects of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill on sockeye salmon, restoring spawning habitats for the last wild strain of steelhead in the Columbia River, studying the nesting habits of sea turtles in Costa Rica, and fishing small streams in the Green Mountains for brook trout, Nick has kept detailed sketchbooks to later use as references in his watercolors. His paintings are not just portraits of fish, they are windows into real experience.
His works are exhibited in private collections, museums, & galleries throughout North America and Scandanavia including The Helsinki Museum of Natural History in Finland, The Cordova Museum in Alaska, The Gamefish Gallery in Key West, the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery in Fairhaven, Conneticut, and The Scrimshaw Gallery on Martha's Vineyard. Since 2003 Nick has been a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, an internationally recognized professional organization that was founded at the Smithsonian Institution in 1968.
Together with an apprentice, Nick painted a 15’ x 40’ outdoor mural of an underwater scene in Vergennes, Vermont that was funded by matching grants from The Vermont Arts Council and People of Addison County Together. He is currently working on a new, even larger mural, privately commissioned for the Rothblatt estate in Lincoln, Vermont that depicts the evolution of life on earth.
Nick lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont with his wife and sons. He can be contacted there by phone, 802.453.7005, or email: escapestudio@gmavt.net
