Colorful anniversary

Suzie Harrison

It’s come full circle for Wyland, a fact underscored as he stands in

his studio on South Coast Highway, right off Main Beach. From here he

points out the exact view that affected him profoundly as a young

teenager visiting from Michigan.

He came to Laguna Beach with his mom and aunt and let them know

how much he wanted to see the ocean. The trip gave him his first view

of the Pacific and of his future.

“Jacques Cousteau was my biggest influence,” Wyland said. “I

became a conservationist and have always felt a deep connection to

the sea.”

Wyland, who goes only by his last name, came to Laguna to start

his career after finishing art school.

“I always wanted to come to California to be an artist,” Wyland

said. “I was drawn to the West coast.”

He moved to the artist colony known as Laguna Beach in 1977, a

year later he opened his first studio gallery in the canyon. Now,

when he’s not traveling, he splits his time between Laguna Beach and

Hawaii.

This week he’s in town to celebrate its 25th anniversary. He now

has 35 galleries all over the country and has accomplished so much on

a personal level, as an artist as well as a philanthropist.

In those early years, Wyland explained that he was a struggling

artists who couldn’t give his work away. “In 1981, I did my first

‘Whaling Wall’ on my 25th birthday,” Wyland said. “I decided to call

it ‘Whaling Wall’ because a little kid looked at his mom, pointed to

the wall and said look mom it’s the whaling wall.”

The name for his murals stuck and he decided to set a goal of

painting 100 of themurals all over the world. He just finished his

90th wall in Palau, a group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean,

southeast of the Philippines.

His first wall was a tribute to the California Gray Whale, his

favorite creature of the sea. Wyland is also featured in the Guinness

Book of World Records for completing the largest mural or painting

ever. “Planet Ocean,” in Long Beach is more than three acres and

required 7,000 gallons of paint. It took six weeks to complete.

With the environmental movement growing, Wyland’s work’s

popularity similarly grew.

Currently Wyland is doing a lot of photography, painting and

sculpting, as well as writing. He has completed nine books. To create

a painting, he said he first paints the background environment.

“And then I imagine marine life and it evolves like that,” Wyland

said. “I’m doing my first ever abstract expressionist paintings. My

art keeps evolving.”

Wyland does about 350 to 450 original pieces a year, with oils

primarily, but also watercolors, Sumi paintings, abstract, murals and

sculptures.

“I’m also doing fine art photography,” Wyland said. “The big thing

for me was painting that mural as a gift to the city.”

What he was referring to was his first mural done in Laguna Beach.

“I did it to raise awareness about whales,” Wyland said. “It took

me three years to get permission from the city. When I heard nine

years ago that the hotel wanted to buy this property and tear the

whale wall down I bought the building. The old owner was my buddy.”

Though the mural was painted over, the city allowed him to

recreate it in hand painted porcelain. That’s when he dedicated the

building, seven years ago.

Wyland’s favorite current project is the Wyland Foundation, which

is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The foundation is dedicated

to promoting and preserving the world’s oceans and marine life.

He is also extremely passionate about the “Wyland Ocean

Challenge.” A program designed to educate children around the country

and one day from around the world.

“It’s about clean water,” Wyland said.

It’s a program through his foundation and the Scripps Institution

of Oceanography that strives to bridge the worlds of art and science.

He said it is the first educational curriculum of its kind developed

exclusively to inspire every student in America to promote, protect

and preserve the water systems of our planet.

“Art is a great way to communicate conservation,” Wyland said.

“We’re launching it in the fall, doing a big tour.”

Wyland believes that by empowering children, showing them beauty

of nature and instilling them with the confidence to believe they can

make a difference, they actually will.

“There’s no better cause than mentoring young people,” Wyland said

In ’98 Wyland was the official artist for the “International year

of the Ocean” by the United Nations because of his role in

environmental conservancy. For that, he toured 50 states in 50 days

promoting conservancy, meeting more than 1-million children.

Wyland has also accomplished many other endeavors and his painting

on the California license plate of the whale tail has raised $4

million since 1998 for coastal conservation and education.

“It’s really a lifestyle that I do now,” Wyland said. “I’m always

going to be on the front line for conservation.”

To find out more go to www.wylandworldwide.com.