For years Wyland has been a well-known name in the USA, with regards to ocean inspired art. Wyland is an environmentalist, and scuba diver. Before he began his artistic endeavors, Wyland spent 14 years diving around the world. He has brought these images to life in sculptures, paintings, prints, and his whaling walls.
Wyland was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956 and first started making paintings of dinosaurs when he was four. On a visit to California in 1970, he saw his first gray whale migration. Two years later he started painting dolphins and whales. In 1974, he painted his first mural called Alps Mountain in Royal Oak Michigan.
Since 1977, Wyland has toured the world painting what are known as his “whaling walls.” Several of his walls are in California. Depending on your desires, you could start at his first mural in Michigan or travel to California to see the dozens of walls he has painted in the state before traversing other areas of the USA.
The “Whaling Wall” concept was started because Wyland wanted a larger canvas for his work. He finished the first official Whaling Wall in 1981 in Laguna Beach, California. It is 140 feet wide and 14 feet high.
His next wall was completed in Dana Point, California. One of the easiest to see is at Sea World in San Diego California. It is called One Man Show.
In 1984, he unveiled four new whaling walls. The first was Walling Wall III in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Two were completed in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. His fourth for the year was completed as Whaling Wall V and is located in Seattle Washington.
For a tour of his whaling walls, you might start in California, drive up through Oregon, stop in Tacoma to see his XXI whaling wall and visit Seattle to see the 1984 wall, before crossing the border into Canada.
For some of Wyland’s walls you will need to travel to Hawaii. If you have a desire to see Hawaii and need another excuse to plan the holiday, then make certain you stop in Honolulu, as well as two other locations on Oahu, Hawaii.
For a southern vacation, traverse various cities of Florida. There are two whaling walls in Orlando, as well as one in Sarasota on the Mote Marine Laboratories building, which is a local aquarium dedicated to preserving the oceans and the lives that depend on it. To finish your tour of Florida, head to Marathon Keys, and Key West.
If you wish to broaden your trip to see Wyland whaling walls, you’ll have to expand your trip out of North America. Wyland has also produced work in Japan and Australia. A tour of Wyland’s work in Japan would take you to Funabashi and Osaka. He produced two walls in Australia located in Bundaburg and Sydney. There is also a wall in Nice, France.
His art truly takes you below the ocean waves, as well as on the surface, where the whales come up to breathe. It is work that makes you feel a part of the scene because of the detail and near 3D quality of the images.