ABOUT
Nathan Mayfield is an artist living in Parma, Ohio with his wife. He studied art at the University of Akron and worked as a muralist in Akron from 2011 to 2015 before stepping away from active practice. He returned to the studio in 2025 and now paints in a garage studio while working full-time as a machinist.
STATEMENT
I build forms in 3D software and translate them into oil paintings on panel. Industrial columns, sliced blocks, monoliths with cylindrical voids, invented objects with no function, rendered with the same care I give to load-bearing parts at my day job. The forms are stripped of context, set against a hard-edged color field, and committed to oil, studio versions of structures that don't have to work.
I'm interested in the contradiction. As a machinist I work inside tolerances, material has to behave, parts have to fit, loads have to transfer. Painting is where I make objects that owe nothing to anyone. They still look like they could hold weight, and that's the point: built without admitting what they're for.
The Rust Belt sits in the work whether I name it or not. I grew up around buildings made to last and not always treated that way. I'm not painting Cleveland or Parma directly, but the architecture I know, heavy, declarative, a little battered, is the architecture I keep inventing.
CV
Nathan Mayfield
Born in 1986 in Akron, USA
Resides and works in Cleveland, USA
EDUCATION
2007: Graphic Design, 3D Design & Animation, Industrial Design, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA
2013: Studio Art (Painting & Drawing), Myers School of Art, University of Akron, Akron, USA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014, Parts Per Million, Akron Community Foundation, Akron, USA
2015, A Little Less More, Allure Gallery, Green, USA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026, Winter Exhibition, Cuyahoga Valley Center Art Center, Cuyahoga Falls, USA
2026, Mix Tape Show, Lakewood Art Supply, Lakewood, USA
2025, Small Works Show, ROY G BIV Gallery, Columbus, USA
2015, Island of Misfit Toys, Akron Art Museum, Akron, USA
2014, Fresh Art, Summit Art Space Annual Juried Show, Akron, USA
2013, Fresh Art, Summit Art Space Annual Juried Show, Akron, USA
2012, All That Matters, The Screw Factory, Cleveland, USA
2012, Top This, Space Needle, Seattle, USA
2012, Fresh Art, Summit Art Space, Akron, USA
2012, Exhibition, GAR Foundation / Andrew Jackson House, Akron, USA
2012, Painting Exhibition, The Spot, Akron, USA
2011, So Heavy, The Box Gallery, Akron, USA
2011, Art in the Airport, Akron Canton Airport, Canton, USA
2011, Fresh Art, Summit Art Space Annual Juried Show, Akron, USA
2011, Exhibition, GAR Foundation / Andrew Jackson House, Akron, USA
2011, The Lovely Lowbrow Toy Show, Summit Art Space, Akron, USA
2010, Exhibition, GAR Foundation / Andrew Jackson House, Akron, USA
2010, The Lovely Lowbrow Toy Show, Square Records, Akron, USA
2010, Fresh Art, Summit Art Space, Akron, USA
2010, Scholarship Show, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
2010, Welcome to the Jungle, The Gothic Building, Akron, USA
2009, Student Juried Show, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
PUBLIC WORKS
2015, #LoveTheWall, quarter-mile mural, S. Broadway, Akron, USA
2014, The Riparian (GeoBox), permanent outdoor sculpture, Arts Council Center of Dublin, Dublin, USA
2013, ABIA (Austin Bio Innovations Institute), permanent outdoor sculpture, Akron, USA
2013, Akron Moves, 600 ft mural, S. Broadway, Akron, USA
2011, The Shopper Dreams, permanent multi-wall mural/installation, Malone/JWT Action, Akron, USA
2011, Engineering Bureau / Municipal Building, permanent multimedia mural, Akron, USA
AWARDS/HONORS / GRANTS
2015, Public Arts Grant, John S. Knight Center, Akron, USA
2012, Studio Scholarship, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
2011, Studio Scholarship, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
2010, 1st Place, Studio Scholarship Competition, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
2010, Tools and Materials Grant, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
2010, Outstanding Foundations Portfolio, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
2005, 1st Place, Portfolio Scholarship Competition, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA
PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS / MEMBERSHIPS
Museum Art Conservation Course, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
Student Art League Council (community engagement & events), University of Akron, Akron, USA
Volunteer, Artapalooza (Green Arts Council), Green, USA
Volunteer Assistant, Emily Davis Gallery, Myers School of Art, Akron, USA
Affiliated / Member:
Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
Akron Art Museum
University of Akron Myers School of Art
Art Institute of Pittsburgh
Summit Art Space