1. Robert Wyland
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2. Robert Wyland July 9, 1956 Michigan
Meet Robert Wyland! Robert Wyland was born in Michigan in July 9th , He grew up with his mom and dad in a small town in Michigan called Madison Heights. At a young age he showed an interest in art.
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3. When he became Highschool aged he attended Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies in During a family vacation to Laguna Beach CA, young Wyland was able to see the ocean and whales. He immediately fell in love with the ocean and its wildlife!
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4. In 1977, after graduating school, he moved out to California, but something that he saw made him sad. He saw that people were littering the oceans. People were not taking care of it and the animals that he fell in love with as a kid were suffering. So, he decided to dedicate his art to helping make the oceans a better place.
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5. There are a lot of challenges facing the oceans, but none saddened Wyland as much as the amount of trash that’s being dumped into the oceans. Here is a picture of the Great Pacific Plastic Island. It’s swarm of trash, mostly plastic items, that are floating in the Pacific Ocean. This Great Pacific Plastic Island is the size of Texas! Can you imagine being surrounded with this much garbage?
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6. Here is another picture of what sea life is like in a polluted ocean
Here is another picture of what sea life is like in a polluted ocean. These images are just some of the things that motivates Wyland to paint what he paints.
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7. When Wyland moved here from Michigan, his first painting was a Laguna beach mural of whales. This began his 100 Whaling Walls project. Here is one of his murals in Texas. It has two Orca whales swimming in his signature style of a split view. Split view is where the viewer is able to see underneath the water as well as the top of the water. Can you see how he used values in this painting?
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Mural in Laguna Beach

8. His goal was to paint 100 murals of life size whales and sea animals all over the world! According to Wyland, “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.” He was very passionate about protecting the ocean. He finally finished his project in 2008, with murals spanning over 5 continents, 13 countries, and 79 cities!
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Laguna Coast

9. Here is a detail of them working on a mural
Here is a detail of them working on a mural. Can you see the man painting on the scaffold? This shows us the scale of their designs. If you can see the lines that form squares, many mural artists use “gridding” to help enlarge a picture to scale. This is just a detail of his largest mural.
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10. This is Wyland mural is called “Planet Ocean” in Long Beach, by the Aquarium of the Pacific. A little fact about this mural - it is the largest mural in the world and is in the Guinness World Book of Records!
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11. Wyland didn’t stop at murals
Wyland didn’t stop at murals. He saw an opportunity to create smaller canvas paintings like this one.
This is an oil painting on canvas, done by Robert, called “Orca Trio,”. He used the symbolism of 3 whales to represent family. We can presume that the lower whale is the father whale, the upper whale is the mother and nestled in between them is the baby. Wyland wanted to show people that families, like these whales were out in the ocean. This was to help us understand that protecting the oceans is protecting families like these and also like ours. He wants to show the similarities between our lives and theirs. We have families and so do they. He makes the viewer ask themselves, What type of home do you want for your family? A home filled with trash which can be dangerous, or a home that’s clean and safe?
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Orca Trio (1994)

12. Wyland is best known for this split view composition
Wyland is best known for this split view composition. His use of monochromatic blues for the background and the dolphins are a great compliment for the warm colors of the coral and other the other animals. This painting is called Ocean Paradise.
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Ocean Paradise (2006)

13. Our last painting is a watercolor called, “Lone Turtle”
Our last painting is a watercolor called, “Lone Turtle”. He wanted to show the solitary and lonely journey of a turtle as it swims across an endless sea. For some solitude can be a form of calm and peace. He’s trying to give the viewer a peace and calm when looking into this picture. Though the turtle is alone in such a large place, it is not lost. It has purpose and direction. And Wyland wants us to have a purpose and direction too. A direction of Conserving our environment for future generations.
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Lone Turtle

14. Wyland is best known for his paintings, but has created an art empire for himself. He is a successful entrepreneur and owns 18 galleries, started an educational foundation, and even launched a TV show on PBS called “Wyland Studio”. He is painting the Dolphin Laugh. Currently he has an estimated net worth of 87 million dollars.
Dolphin Laugh “Wyland Studio” PBS
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15. Lastly, here is Robert, standing on top of a scaffold in front of his many murals. He is conversationalist, a business man and most of all an artist. He’s been able to raise millions of dollars through his foundation, his galleries, his murals and has used it towards cleaning up the ocean and addressing it’s many needs.
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