WYLAND PROFILE: A WHALE OF AN ARTIST EMBRACES THE FLORIDA KEYS
A part-time Florida Keys resident, Wyland is shown here concluding a 17-city U.S. environmental awareness initiative in Key West. (Photo by Gary Firstenberg)
Widely recognized as a pioneer of the environmental art movement, marine life artist Wyland has had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the Florida Keys' individualistic atmosphere. As well as having two galleries on Key West's lively and ever-changing Duval Street, he chose the island city's Historic Seaport as the site for one of his mammoth Whaling Wall murals.
Wyland (who dispensed with his first name years ago) initially came to the Keys in 1973 on Spring Break from Detroit's Center for Creative Studies, where he was a sculpture major. Unlike other Spring Breakers, he didn't embrace the bars or the nightlife. Instead, he was entranced by the rich diversity of marine life that inhabits the Keys' living coral reef.
"I actually missed a couple of weeks of school so I could stay down and do some diving," he says with a characteristically self-deprecating grin. "I love the Keys."
Originally inspired by the work of Jacques Cousteau, Wyland began painting the underwater world in the early 1970s. In 1981 he created his first Whaling Wall mural, a 140-by-28-foot depiction of a gray whale and her calf, on the side of a building in Laguna Beach, California.
Other walls followed, as did countless smaller paintings and sculptures of whales, dolphins, manatees, reef life, and myriad marine creatures. Before long, Wyland realized he could use his art to further his other driving passion: increasing public awareness about the need to preserve and protect the oceans and their inhabitants.
Today, he has completed 100 evocative, life-size Whaling Walls in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, Mexico and even far-flung locations such as New Zealand and China -- volunteering his time and talent on each occasion. His walls have been called the largest marine life art project in the world, and are viewed by an estimated one billion people annually.
One of the walls, located in Long Beach, California, and named "Planet Ocean," measures a traffic-stopping 1,280 feet long and 105 feet tall. Not surprisingly, it's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest mural on earth.
"If you're going to be an artist," says its creator, who was dubbed "a marine Michelangelo" by U.S.A. Today, "be a big artist."
Wyland's Key West Whaling Wall, named "Florida's Living Reef," was inspired by his continued fascination with the Keys' undersea world. It overlooks the water at 201 William Street, wrapping around two sides of the Waterfront Market building. The colorful and engaging "window on the reef" captures the attention of virtually everyone who strolls through the Historic Seaport.
Two more of the signature walls were painted in Marathon in the Florida Keys -- and Wyland is particularly proud of the fact that, during their creation, he was made an honorary citizen of the Keys. Not long ago, he turned that citizenship into more than just an honorary designation by purchasing a home in the Upper Keys.
In February, 2007, Wyland completed what he called his final U.S. Whaling Wall. It's located in Key Largo, the closest of the Florida Keys to mainland Florida, and can be seen by everyone driving into or out of the popular island chain.
Wyland's work and environmental commitment have been lauded by world-renowned ocean scientists and explorers including Dr. Sylvia Earle and Dr. Robert Ballard. No one since Jacques Cousteau himself has created such wide awareness of the endangered oceans and their inhabitants.
In 1998, the United Nations declared Wyland the official artist of the International Year of the Ocean. Five years earlier, he had established the Wyland Foundation to encourage involvement in marine conservation.
Wyland is also a fervent supporter of local and regional marine-related organizations, including the Keys' Dolphin Research Center.
"I'm impressed by the work they've done over the years," he says, "and I will continue to support their efforts any way I can."
While other artists might be content to focus on murals alone, Wyland has too much energy to put limits on his creativity. His smaller paintings and sculptures are so popular that he has become the world's most widely-collected marine life artist. His work can be found in the collections of notables including Great Britain's Prince Charles, sports legend Magic Johnson, actors Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and singer/songwriter/author Jimmy Buffett.
Like his Keys Whaling Walls, his paintings and sculptures are known for their vivid coloration, true-to-life detail, and the soul that shines through the eyes of each marine creature portrayed. Wyland spends innumerable hours each year swimming with majestic humpback whales, dolphins, manatees and other aquatic inhabitants. The constant renewal of contact with marine life, he believes, fuels both his artistic and personal growth.
"That's the one thing that keeps me totally challenged and inspired," he says. "Every time I dive I learn more, and then I try to incorporate that into my paintings and my sculptures and my murals. It just keeps evolving, like the ocean itself."
Despite his celebrity status, Wyland remains likeable and unassuming. He spends much of his time on the road -- touring, painting murals, doing environmental work, and diving. As often as he can, using his Upper Keys home as a base, he dives in the Keys.
"The Florida Keys reef is one of the best places in the world to dive," he says. "It has really inspired a lot of what I paint."
Wyland directs a large part of his environmental awareness effort toward children and teens. He gets thousands of letters each year from young people -- some wanting to know how they can become artists or environmentalists, some telling him that his work has galvanized them to go out and make a difference.
"When I was a kid growing up, I had an art teacher who inspired me. She said I could be a good artist, and I believed her," he says. "So when I see kids, I want to take the time to encourage them."
As a muralist, painter, sculptor, writer, underwater photographer, diver, and environmental crusader, Wyland displays a phenomenal level of energy. He's always in motion, never daunted by seemingly insurmountable challenges, constantly seeking new creative outlets. What keeps him motivated and energized?
"I'm having fun," he states simply. "My job is really my hobby, and it's turned into a lifestyle. There's magic in doing something you love. If you do something you love, you've reached the pinnacle of success."
