Porland, Maine Wyland Whaling Wall 36

History of the Portland, Maine Wyland Whaling Wall 36

-Whales off the Coast of Maine

The first stop on Wyland’s formidable 17-mural, 17-city, 17-week East Coast Tour got off to a slippery start in Portland, Maine. On Tuesday, June 1, the artist, his crew and the township of Portland had to wait out a cold, pelting rainstorm before the first dab of paint could be applied to the side of the Bath Iron Works, opposite the Maine State Pier. Like many of the mural projects, weather became simply another obstacle to conquer, whether it was searing heat, snow, high winds, or dousing rains. In typical fashion, the Wyland team found a way to finish on schedule, in this case just in time the kick off of the city’s Old Port Festival, in which Wyland served as Grand Marshal. When it was all done, the mural measured 1,000 feet in length with glorious depictions of  a mother and calf humpback whale, finback whales, minke whales, white-sided dolphins, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, sea lions and a loggerhead turtle.

Environmental Notes

• After years of whaling, whales in the North Atlantic were making significant strides toward recovery in 1993, but new threats were emerging, ranging from fishing gear entanglement and pollution to ship strikes.
• By the early 1990s, scientists estimated that fewer than 400 right whales existed in the North Atlantic.

Whaling wall 36

BIW Building, Marine State Pier, Portland, Maine
1,000 Feet Long x 25 Feet High
Dedicated June 7, 1993
By Steven Katona, President, Atlantic College & Mayor Anne Pringle

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