Wyland (born July 9, 1956) is an American artist and conservationist best known for his more than 100 Whaling Walls, large outdoor murals featuring images of life-size whales and other sea life to call attention to the plight of whales throughout the world.
A native of Madison Heights, Michigan, Wyland began painting as a child and attended Detroit's Center for Creative Studies in the 1970s. [1] His connection with whales began when he was 14 on a visit with his family to Laguna Beach, California where he saw the ocean for the first time and witnessed several gray whales migrating down the California coast towards Mexico. [2] In 1977 he moved to Laguna Beach and in 1981 painted his first The Whaling Wall mural on the large wall of a Laguna Beach hotel parking lot. This original 1981 mural was obliterated in 1996 when it was painted over in a property ownership dispute. Wyland re-created the mural at nearly the same location with painted ceramic tile in 1996, followed by a wall-mounted canvas addition in 2019 when he included the additional title Gray Whale and Calf. [3] [4]
In 1993, he founded the non-profit Wyland Foundation "to help children rediscover the wonder of the ocean through art" (according to Steve Creech, the foundation's President) and to finance his Whaling Wall murals. [5] [6] Wyland's largest ocean mural sets an international record of over three acres in area, on the exterior of the Long Beach Convention Center. [7] [8] Wyland's 100th Whaling Wall was painted in Beijing in 2008. [9] His foundation has since expanded its work to include other environmental initiatives such as sponsorship of the National Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation. [10] [11]
By 1997, his commercial work (sold through Wyland Galleries LLC) and licensed merchandise sold at zoos and other outlets had become a multimillion-dollar business supporting both his galleries and his non-profit endeavors for the conservation of coasts and waterways. [12] [13] [14] His artwork has been featured on California and Florida specialty license plates as well as on a series of four United Nations stamps issued in 2010 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. [15] [16]
In 2018, Norwegian Cruise Line launched their newest cruise ship, Norwegian Bliss . Wyland designed and painted a massive mural on the hull of the over 1,000-foot-long ship, featuring his trademark images of life-sized whales. [17] [ non-primary source needed ]
Wyland lives in the Florida Keys, California, and Hawaii. [18]
After spending the first half of his career focused on drawing attention to marine mammal conservation, Wyland, along with co-author and frequent environmental collaborator Steve Creech expanded the focus of the Wyland Foundation to raise awareness about issues affecting U.S. waterways, including urban runoff, nutrient pollution, and marine debris issues. [19] Among their work was the creation of a 1,000 square traveling clean water science center, featuring a 40-person onboard interactive movie theater, computer model simulations of region's affected by water pollution, and onboard running rivers. [20] "You can't protect one area of water without thinking about how we protect all of it, because it's all connected," Wyland said. "If you want to think about protecting our ocean, you have to think about what we're doing to our freshwater habitats. The lakes, the rivers, the streams, the ponds, the wetlands. It's all connected."
Wyland's pioneering efforts to create monumental artworks dedicated to marine life conservation pre-dated today's world of super graphics. At the height of his popularity, it was estimated that Wyland's artworks in cities around the world were seen by up to 1 billion people a year. [21]
The gray whale, also known as the grey whale, gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, Korean gray whale, or California gray whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9 meters (49 ft), a weight of up to 41 tonnes (90,000 lb) and lives between 55 and 70 years, although one female was estimated to be 75–80 years of age. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius. It is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae, however some recent studies classify it as a member of the family Balaenopteridae. This mammal is descended from filter-feeding whales that appeared during the Neogene.
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had become the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The whaling industry spread throughout the world and became very profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population and became targets for large concentrations of whaling ships and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969 and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s.
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity, but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes. A study prepared for International Fund for Animal Welfare in 2009 estimated that 13 million people went whale watching globally in 2008. Whale watching generates $2.1 billion per annum in tourism revenue worldwide, employing around 13,000 workers. The size and rapid growth of the industry has led to complex and continuing debates with the whaling industry about the best use of whales as a natural resource.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its goals, most famously by deploying its fleet of ships to track, report on and actively impede the work of fishing vessels believed to be engaged in illegal and unregulated activities causing the unsustainable exploitation of marine life.
The sei whale is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the blue whale and the fin whale. It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters. It avoids polar and tropical waters and semi-enclosed bodies of water. The sei whale migrates annually from cool, subpolar waters in summer to temperate, subtropical waters in winter with a lifespan of 70 years.
The northern bottlenose whale is a species of beaked whale in the ziphiid family, being one of two members of the genus Hyperoodon. The northern bottlenose whale was hunted heavily by Norway and Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of the deepest-diving mammals known, reaching depths of 2,339 m (7,674 ft) and capable of diving for up to 130 minutes.
Point Lobos and the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is a state park in California. Adjoining Point Lobos is "one of the richest marine habitats in California." The ocean habitat is protected by two marine protected areas, the Point Lobos State Marine Reserve and Point Lobos State Marine Conservation Area. The sea near Point Lobos is considered one of the best locations for scuba diving on the Monterey Peninsula and along the California coast.
The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is a convention center located in Long Beach, California. Built on the former site of the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the venue is composed of the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach Arena, and the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. It is served by the 1st Street station of Los Angeles Metro Rail.
Neptune's Navy is the name that Captain Paul Watson uses to refer to the ships he operates. Most of these vessels are used to disrupt or hinder illegal and legal fishing, whaling or sealing operations.
The Milwaukee County Courthouse is a high-rise municipal building located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Completed in 1931, it is the third county courthouse to be built in the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The first two courthouses were built at what is now Cathedral Square Park on the east side of the Milwaukee River.
MacGillivray Freeman Films is an American film studio based in Laguna Beach, California and founded in the mid-1960s by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman. It produces documentaries, feature films, and IMAX films.
Marine conservation activism is the efforts of non-governmental organizations and individuals to bring about social and political change in the area of marine conservation. Marine conservation is properly conceived as a set of management strategies for the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Activists raise public awareness and support for conservation, while pushing governments and corporations to practice sound ocean management, create conservation policy, and enforce existing laws and policy through effective regulation. There are many different kinds of organizations and agencies that work toward these common goals. They all are a part of the growing movement that is ocean conservation. These organizations fight for many causes including stopping pollution, overfishing, whaling and by-catching, and supporting marine protected areas.
The My Hero Project is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization established in 1995 by philanthropist Karen Pritzker, Jeanne Meyers and Rita Stern Milch that promotes the sharing of positive role models from around the world for the online digital storytelling project. By 2013, it reached 194 countries.
Guy Harvey is a Jamaican marine wildlife artist and conservationist. His depictions of sealife, especially of sportfish such as marlin, are popular with sportfishermen and have been reproduced in prints, posters, T-shirts, jewellery, clothing, and other consumer items. Harvey is also a very vocal and active advocate for marine conservation, having established the Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as well as the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, an organisation that funds scientific research and educational initiatives.
Crazy Shirts is an American T-shirt and clothing company established in 1964 and based in California, Hawaii. The company operates 35 retail stores in Hawaii, California, Florida, Nevada, and Colorado. Crazy Shirts houses the largest printing facility in Hawaiʻi, on the island of Oʻahu, and employs more than 400 employees.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society engages in various demonstrations, campaigns, and tactical operations at sea and elsewhere, including conventional protests and direct actions to protect marine wildlife. Sea Shepherd operations have included interdiction against commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting and whaling. Many of their activities have been called piracy or terrorism by their targets and by the ICRW. Sea Shepherd says that they have taken more than 4,000 volunteers on operations over a period of 30 years.
The Alfaguara project is a marine life conservation project operated from Puñihuil in the northwest of Chiloé Island, the main island in the Chiloé Archipelago in southern Chile.
The Runners was an outdoor mural by architect James McQuiston located on the east side of the annex to the Barnes and Thornburg Building at 7 E. Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The mural occupied the east wall of this five-story commercial building. The mural was the result of a 1975 contest sponsored by the Urban Walls Task force of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee and the Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation.
Norwegian Bliss is a cruise ship for Norwegian Cruise Line, which entered service on 21 April 2018. The ship was built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany. The ship had a schedule of debuting in Alaska, United States in June 2018, and is designed for improved energy efficiency to meet Alaska's environmental regulations.
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