- Title: CHINA: Marine life artist Wyland celebrates the Green Olympics in Beijing
- Date: 13th July 2008
- Summary: (L!3) BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 7, 2008) (REUTERS) MARINE LIFE ARTIST ROBERT WYLAND AND CHILDREN HOLDING HANDS IN FRONT OF LARGE CANVAS WYLAND, CHINESE ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST YUAN XIKUN AND ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR FOR THE BEIJING ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES (BOCOG) XIAOXUAN YU RAISING ARMS IN FRONT OF CANVAS CHILDREN CLAPPING CHILDREN HOLDING HANDS
- Embargoed: 28th July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
- Reuters ID: LVA3XI4QHEC1XTEYJF579H5IVWML
- Story Text: Hundreds of Chinese school children painted alongside marinelife artist and conservationist Robert Wyland for his 100th and final "Whaling Wall" in Beijing on Monday (July 7).
Wyland, who has been selected as the official artist of the United States Olympic Team, started painting marine life murals 27 years ago. Today his works can be seen in over 75 cities around the globe.
The two-week long project in Beijing will be his final wall mural art, and is entitled "Hands Across the Ocean" in celebration of this year's "Green Olympics".
In his final piece, the life-sized paintings of endangered wildlife will be depicted on 118 canvasses. Each canvas measures three meters high and fifteen metres long. There will be sections representing the world's coasts, wetlands, rivers and lakes which are currently under threat.
China is of particular interest to the artist, as awareness of environmental issues in the country is still low. Wyland hopes his art will inspire people to pay more attention to the beauty of nature.
"Well, you know, China has so many issues regarding the environmental problems and pollution. Of course air and land and water.
They're trying to get their arms around it. And what I do is gentle environmentalism. It's very subliminal but I believe that if people see the beauty in nature they'll work to preserve it, and kids bring that beauty like Picasso did. I mean they're awesome, they're little Picasso's of the sea. And this is art and science," Wyland said.
The first two canvasses were completed at the United Nations Environment Programme's International Children's Conference in Stavanger, Norway, on June 17-21. Children from 100 different countries were invited to join, and create the starting point for Beijing's Green Olympics "Whaling Wall".
The hundreds of children from around the world who are joining him in this monumental feat, will learn about endangered wildlife species and water conservation. The artist hopes that it will inspire children to care about their environment and as 'green ambassadors', they will carry environmental values to their home and communities in the future.
School girl Huang Yihan from the Jingtong Primary School says the project had taught her to respect shared natural resources.
"I have learnt that we should protect the environment. We should love the common natural resources, and we shouldn't damage things that belong to everybody," Huang said.
Some children have already carried their green values home, and encouraged their parents to develop more environmentally friendly habits.
Zhao Yanteng, also from the Jingtong Primary School, said his family had implemented the habits into their daily lives.
"At home when we have dinner there are a lot of things that we could recycle, and we can use waste plastic bags as rubbish bags so that we don't waste, this is a good habit," he said.
Beijing has promoted its 2008 Games as a nature-friendly festival of sport, but with just one month until the opening ceremony on August 8, pollution remains a major concern.
Authorities have announced a raft of factory closures to ensure good air quality, and have channelled water from neighbouring provinces and draw heavily from already strained underground water supplies to feed new expanses of Olympic greenery.
With his 100th "Whaling Wall" , Wyland may be finishing his personal project spanning almost three decades. But in China, it is only the beginning of an environmental consciousness taking root in the Chinese society. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.