Nick paints many of his fish from real models in his Vermont studio. He works primarily in watercolor on paper to produce the original paintings. All the cards on this site are printed from high-definition digital images of his originals.
About the Artist
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 a vehicle to spend most of his adult life traveling in pursuit of fish. He has done so as an artist, a teacher, a commercial fisherman, a research biologist, and a fly fisherman.
While investigating the effects of the ExxonValdez 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, or 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 experience.
His works have been exhibited in galleries on both the East and West coasts including The McClure & Company Gallery in The Dalles, Oregon, The Gamefish Gallery in Key West, Wickford Art Association and Bristol Art Museum in Rhode Island, American Museum of Fly Fishing in Vermont, Gallery West in Virginia, The Scrimshaw Gallery on Martha's Vineyard, J. Russell Janishian Gallery in Connecticut, Cordova Museum in Alaska,and more. Nick also 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. His premium note card line was introduced in 2006, and has proven to be very popular. He is currently working on a series of paintings/sculptures of moths that is being funded by a grant from the Vermont Community Foundation, exploring the use of powdered graphite as an illustration medium and completing a children’s book.
Nick can be contacted by phone: 802-453-7005 or via email: nmayer@escapestudio.org More of his work can be viewed at his website:
