Robert Wyland
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. Life and career A native of Madison Heights, Michigan, Wyland began painting as a child and attended Detroit's Center for Creative Studies in the 1970s. 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. 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. In 1993, he founded the non-profit Wyland Foundation "to help children rediscover the