James Davis Mayhew, who went by J.D., was born in Enid, Oklahoma in 1925. His love for creating art started early on, “Even when I was a kid, I was doing sketches for sale in the local café… If you like to draw, if you have to draw even when it’s not acceptable, you’re going to draw. I couldn’t have done anything else.”

His love for the ocean and whales began during his service in the U.S. Navy. “I’ve been running into whales all my life, accidentally... When I was in the Navy, I went down to Baja with a diving
bunch. We went down there and we touched the whales.” After his Navy service ended in 1946, making him a WWII veteran, he became an art major at Oklahoma City University, graduating in 1948. “I worked my way through college by map drawing for geologists.”

Staying in Oklahoma only 6 more years, he worked as a map draftsman for an oil company, learned camera and printing techniques at a lithograph supply company, worked as an illustrator who also did airbrushing, for The Daily Oklahoman, and then opened his own studio serving many clients.

In 1954, he moved to Denver, Colorado for about four years where he was an art director for a printing company and for an advertising company, for a time, before opening Mayhew Advertising Art Studio.

He made his way to California in 1958, starting James D. Mayhew Inc. Advertising, in Oakland, as well as Mayhew Advertising Art, in Berkeley. Making a move to Walnut Creek, he became a business partner starting Moore Mayhew and Fick Advertising Inc. in 1960 where he worked as art director and account executive until 1970. “After several years of illustrating, I thought, what I really want to do is etchings on copper plate.” So, he connected himself more closely with his passion, the whales and the sea, by moving his family to the coastal town of Fort Bragg, in Mendocino County, and building a home and studio on a bluff at Todd’s Point in1971.

In 1973, he made his first etching of a whale at an etching class taught by a local artist. “I knew that I wanted to do whales and etchings, though I had never done etching before coming here (Mendocino Coast). They seem to be a hand-in-hand type of subject and medium. Etching is an ancient art form, much like scrimshaw in feel, it has a traditional feel.” The acceptance he found in the local art culture was very gratifying for him.

J.D. became aware of the plight of whales, which in the 1970s, were being hunted to near extinction by commercial whaling. In 1976, he took an active role in their defense along the Mendocino Coast by joining forces with friend Byrd Baker, a sculptor in Mendocino, to help start and lead a local movement that Byrd declared the Mendocino Whale War. A Russian whaling fleet caught killing sperm whales off Cape Mendocino by a Greenpeace Foundation patrol boat in 1975 spurred this movement.

Calling themselves “whale warriors,” Byrd and J.D., along with Mendocino’s shopkeepers and residents, formed the Mendocino Whale War Association for which J.D. made artwork (see photo gallery). This anti-whaling campaign also kicked off the very first Whale Festival in Mendocino County, which strove to raise public awareness, educate, and also to fundraise for a special mission. In late June of 1976, J.D. joined Byrd on the Mendocino Whale War Boat Phyllis Cormack for an ocean voyage to patrol the waters from Cape Mendocino to San Francisco Bay, looking to challenge any Russian or Japanese whalers hunting illegally off the coast. They rendezvoused with Greenpeace ship James Bay on July 1st, and further plans were made. Four days later the voyage was over with no whalers being spotted but there was evidence collected of fishing grounds being ravaged by foreign fleets.

As this movement and other anti-whaling campaigns spread, United States policy was changed; in 1977 the previous 12-mile fishing limit off of the American coast was extended to 200 miles, saving whales and protecting fishing grounds. J.D. also designed a “Save the Whales” t-shirt for Greenpeace, as well as donated several of his drawings, to help raise money to benefit the movement. “If people love a painting of whales, they may also feel a bit more protective of the whales themselves.”

In 1978, J.D. created the Gentle Giants of the Sea 1979 Whale Calendar (see blogs), featuring 12 of his etchings of 7 different whales and spinner dolphins, made for and published by The Whale Protection Fund, a special project of the Center for Environmental Education who campaigned to save whales through ending commercial whaling. The calendar was created to help raise money to expand public education programs on whale conservation. “Maybe if someone loves this art, they will love a whale.” In 1986, the International Whaling Commission passed a moratorium on commercial whaling that continues today.

In 1988, three gray whales were reported trapped in pack ice near Point Barrow, Alaska and a regional, national, and international rescue effort, “Operation Breakthrough,” followed. J.D. was deeply affected and inspired to create a watercolor titled Breaking the Ice (see blogs). In a flyer he made, that included a reprint of an article in the San Francisco Examiner by Stephanie Salter titled All God’s Creatures, Great and Small (see blogs), he wrote:

“The watercolor Breaking the Ice was inspired by the plight of three California gray whales trapped in ice near Barrow, Alaska. The coming together of so many people with such a
driving desire to free the whales captured the interest of the world. The sorrow felt when the smaller whale perished and, finally, the exhilaration that resulted when the remaining two whales broke free of the ice was a testament to the many people working together for a noble cause. Following the daily rescue efforts, a friend and neighbor suggested that I paint the whales. At an American Cetacean Society art show, a friend Alden ‘Whale’ Lewis gave me a copy
of the whales taken with his video camera while in Barrow on business. This was a moving sequence of the three whales with only Lewis and his [Inuit] friend present, before the arrival of the press. We also talked about the idea that it would make a good painting. The article by Stephanie Salter was the turning point in my decision to do a watercolor depicting the Barrow whales. It is now a painting for the whales and myself without any necessity of explaining its content to anyone. Stephanie Salter said it all. Thanks to all the people who gathered in the freezing arctic to give so much warmth to the world.”

Because of his love and concern for whales, and that in the early 70s there wasn’t much literature available on whales, he did everything he could to research, study, document and understand them, in order to accurately portray them, as well as contribute to world knowledge of them. In addition to working with others involved in research and documentation on whales, he
visited whaling museums in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Since J.D. was an avid skin diver and underwater photographer/videographer (he was associated with the first underwater film festival in San Francisco, California) he made many trips to the Sea of Cortez and San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico, Lahaina, Maui and other Hawaiian Islands, and Alaska’s Inside Passage region to observe, photograph, film, and dive with whales. “You’ll be in a skiff out on the water and the babies are inquisitive because they’ll come over to the boat and put their heads up over the gunwales and you rub them. Then the mother whale will come up, sometimes upside down, it doesn’t matter to them. They’ll let you rub under their chin.”

In 1971, J.D. helped found the Mendocino Wildlife Gallery on Kasten Street in Mendocino, which developed into his own family run Mayhew Wildlife Gallery in the early 80s, closing in 1991. He introduced many new artists works to the area, and the gallery became a hub for environmental activity. J.D. felt that the relationships he established with local artists were as important as his work itself.

“Over the years he generously supported many philanthropic endeavors either by allowing his work to be reproduced, or by designing artwork for special events. His magnificent etchings of gray whales graced the covers of several of the Advocate-News’ and The Mendocino Beacon’s
Whale Festival special sections in the 1980s,” (Page 6-Whale Festival Section-The Mendocino Beacon, March 4, 2004-Advocate-News, March 18, 2004- “Remembering artist J.D. Mayhew”).

In 1983, J.D. created the logo for the first annual Mendocino Coast Whale Festival, for The Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce, which is still in use today. They also used this logo to create the label for their Whale Festival Coffee which included a small dedication to him. He also began designing a special label for Edmeades Vineyard’s Whale Wine, using the image from a watercolor he created in 1984 titled Northbound, which he dedicated to his friend Byrd Baker. He created beer labels and logos for North Coast Brewing Co. Inc. in Fort Bragg, California. The beer labels include the award-winning Scrimshaw Beer and Glass Beach Beer, which was made as a benefit beer with partial proceeds benefiting Mendocino Land Trust. In 1987, J.D. created artwork for the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation’s annual benefit Winesong. See blogs for all of the above.

It is through his artwork, or more precisely, through others' appreciation of his artwork, that he hoped to contribute to the well-being of his wildlife subjects. J.D.’s artwork ranged in size from small etchings to large paintings. Most of his works were limited editions, holding value because of their rarity, especially his etchings. J.D. described the etching process: "Etchings are traditionally a form of intaglio printmaking. The art is scratched through a wax ground on a metal plate. The exposed metal is then bitten with an acid solution. The wax is then cleared from the surface and the plate is rubbed with ink to fill the etched lines. Excess ink is hand wiped from the surface. Dampened paper is placed over the plate and both are run through the press under heavy pressure. The paper picks up the ink from the well of the etched lines. Each print has to be individually inked and wiped. Only prints that meet the high standard of the artist are acceptable to be included in the edition. Plates are physically canceled after the edition is finished."

“The closer you get to them (whales) and the wilder the things you see them do, the more you’re fascinated by them. Like every once in a while, you’ll see them breach out here (view from the window of his ocean-side home). They’ll just leap out of the water…They’re a huge animal and they’ve been here since the beginning of time practically. I like all wildlife, but whales are just magical in a way.”