Artist of the day: Artist of the day, November 16: Bill Mayer, American illustrator, painter

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Artist of the day, November 16: Bill Mayer, American illustrator, painter

Bill Mayer (1951) was born in Birmingham, Alabama and currently lives and works in Decatur, Georgia. He studied illustration at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida and has since gone on to have a illustrious career in the industry, receiving commissions from giants such as Coca Cola and DreamWorks. Mayer is also no stranger to winning awards and has been honoured numerous times over the years, this includes receiving gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators.

Bill’s book The Monster That Did My Math was picked as one of the top twenty books for all young Georgians to read. In 2010, Bill won a gold medal in Society of Illustrators NY in the editorial category, for one of his stamp drawings for “Revista Piaui” magazine in Brazil. The same year, Bill won a Gold Medal in Society of Illustrators West for an IBM editorial piece and another Gold Medal for an NPR calendar; alongside a Gold Medal and the Joseph Morgan Henninger “Best of Show” award for his poster for Hartford Stage. This award is presented to the best of all the Gold Award Winners. Again, in 2010, Bill received a Silver medal from 3x3 for his Comic “Bebo” and several other awards of merit for published and unpublished work. Bill had two Awards of Merit in American Illustration 2010. On the personal side, last year, Bill compiled and put together an 82.5-foot accordion fold book of letters he had sent his wife Lee for a rather extravagant Valentines present. In 2007 Bill won a gold medal for his illustrated children's book "The Monster That Did My Math" and in 2009, his alphabet book, "All Aboard," won a silver medal in the Original Art Show at The Society of Illustrators in New York. In 2005, Bill won a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators for his Dellas Graphics Frog Calendar illustration. The Illustration “Grower’s of America” poster won a gold medal in the National Addy’s in 2006. Bill’s series of African designs for the prestigious Steuben Glass are now in production, and were released early Fall, 2007. Bill recently completed a children’s book for the Georgia Aquarium, “A Giving Tale.” Bill's "Bright Eyes" stamps for the U.S. Postal Service were one of the most collectible stamp series of the decade, and the Tour de France posters he produced for Eric Kessel / Kessel Kramer, Amsterdam appeared on the cover of Archive Magazine. His posters for the acclaimed play “A Christmas Carol” for Hartford Stage have generated many national awards, including Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators in New York City.