Fritz Mayhew has achieved success and recognition in two parallel but distinctive creative careers, both as an artist and an automotive designer.

Mayhew was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He spent his childhood in Western Pennsylvania.  In 1958 he was accepted to the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University Department of Fine Arts, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1963.

After graduation, Mayhew joined the Ford Motor Company and was highly influential in a number of their designs.  He was the Executive Director for North American Design throughout the 1990's and was responsible for the design development of all Ford Motor Company cars and trucks produced in North America.

Since 1998 Mayhew has been devoting all his creative time to painting. He uses a combination of watercolor and guache mediums in his work as well as acrylic and oil.   He now divides his time between studios in Harbor Springs, Michigan, and Naples, Florida.

Fritz's work has been exhibited widely and has been selected for inclusion in many permanent collections including The Schwartz Collection at the Harvard Business School, Daimler Chrysler, General Motors Corp. Comerica Bank, and Eaton Manufacturing.  He is recognized as one of the finest landscape realists in the Midwest.

Recent awards include "Best in Show" the 2004 Naples Von Leibieg Center for the Arts state-wide juried iInvitational and Inclusion in the Midland Center for the Arts Landscape Invitational.

Fritz says "I try to simplify and eliminate topographical detail to create a sense of calmness so the viewer's mind has less to process and the feeling predominates."