Wyland

Wyland with kids (Wyland Foundation)

"We now know that water connects all the countries of the world. Our goal with these projects over the last three decades has been to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public. The health of our ocean and waterways are in jeopardy, not to mention the thousands of marine animals and plants that face extinction if we do nothing."

Wyland sculpture (Wyland Foundation)

Wyland: Creating large scale marine life murals and Educating the next generations

Wyland is an internationally recognized artist and marine life conservationist. He is celebrated as a painter, a sculptor, a muralist, a writer, a filmmaker, and a music producer. He is a scuba diver and an explorer and an educator. His wide ranging interests and accomplishments suggest that he is truly a modern day Renaissance man. His art has been collected by individuals and corporations in over 100 countries. His life-size murals, the series of 100 murals painted between 1981 and 2008 are entitled "Whaling Walls," are heroic by any definition. They are viewed each year by over a billion people in over 75 cities around the globe in the USA, Europe, Australia and the South Pacific, and Asia, including Beijing, the site of his 100th mural for the 2008 Olympics.

Wyland's interests in art and oceanography started at a very young age. Jacques Cousteau had an enormous influence on the developing artist and Wyland credits his love for whales and sea life to Cousteau's television shows. Wyland soon realized the great potential in combining his nascent painting career with his care and respect for the environment. Wyland believes that his worldwide audience shares his love for whales and for the oceans of this planet. As Jane Goodall has said, "Wyland brings the voices of the great and intelligent of the sea from the depths of the oceans into the hearts and lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world."

Robert Wyland painted his first mural on the side of a building in 1981 in Laguna Beach, California where he had opened his first gallery three years before. He completed his 100th mural in 2008 in Beijing and he has traveled the globe extensively bringing his heroic message of art in service of the environment. After 35 years of art making, he has established an impressive network of galleries and public art sites that promote ocean awareness through the vehicle of his signature whale imagery.

Wyland Clean Water Challenge (Wyland Foundation)