Vancouver Wyland Whaling Wall 8

History of the Vancouver Wyland Whaling Wall 8

-Orcas

The side of the Canada Life Insurance Company building in Vancouver, British
Columbia, provided the surface for Wyland’s eighth Whaling Wall. The artist says he wanted the mural to incorporate the environment of Vancouver and its local pods of orca whales swimming through the cool, flat waters. “When you look at this mural from a distance, it actually blends into its surroundings,” Wyland says. “I think the highest thing I can achieve in my work is to make the painting a natural extension of the beauty in the area.” The mural conveys the mystic haze that often hovers over the water near Vancouver in the mornings and the group of orcas represents a local pod that frequents the region; Canada Life, the company that sponsored Wyland during the project, was so taken with the mural that they renamed the building. It is now called The Wyland Building.

Looking Back

• The 1980s were a turbulent time in the Vancouver area as more residents grew concerned about emerging issues such as water quality. Runoff from logging was creating new problems not only for the city’s water systems, but offshore waters that were home to fish stocks in the Pacific Northwest.
• Orcas, themselves, had become symbols of the effort to protect the local environment. By joining together with the efforts of Mayor Harcourt, an ardent environmentalist, Wyland’s mural not only added a striking artistic vision to the community, it helped boost the effort to help people understand how the urban world directly connected to efforts for marine conservation.
• The Wyland Foundation has built on the legacy started by Wyland’s earliest murals by bringing together art and science in the service of promoting creative, solution oriented stewardship of our oceans and waterways.

Whaling wall 8
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
130 Feet Long x 70 Feet High
Dedicated September 10, 1985
By Michael Harcourt, Mayor of Vancouver

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