The faculty from the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS) department commissioned this painting. The original is 7 by 15 feet, acrylic on canvas and took me about a year to paint. It’s hanging prominently on the wall at the SAFS building. What is the Salish Sea? Here’s what Wikepedia has to say: The name Salish Sea was coined only in the late 20th century, and was officially recognized by the United States in 2009 and by Canada in 2010, to describe the coastal waterways surrounding southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound between Canada and the United States of America. Its major bodies of water are Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
There are about 100 species of fish depicted along with the Seattle skyline, Mt. Rainier, a pencil, a paintbrush, a slice of pizza, the Edgewater Hotel, the Kalakala ferry, and Professor Trevor Kincaid. You can get signed art posters of this insanely detailed fish-filled image in our web store by clicking right here.
There’s also a species identification chart posted online if you click right here.
After three years of planning, design and production we’ve finished and installed a 4oo foot long mural for NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center located in beautiful Pacific Grove, California. Working with scientists at the lab we came up with a theme based on the changing critters of the California current. I designed and drew the 32 panels that surround the building. Roberto Salas and the fastest brush in the west, Guillermo ( AKA Memo) Jauregui, painted each six by eight foot panel down in San Diego. They used acrylic paints on unwoven fabric that was later adhered to the concrete walls of the lab.
Check out the o-fish-al NOAA website about the mural at http://swfsc.noaa.gov/pg-mural.aspx. NOAA plans to produce a lot more educational outreach material so stay tuned for more developments.
In May of 2006 I was part of an art crew that painted two 100 ft. long “wild fish” murals on a cold storage building. in Sitka, Alaska. I worked with fellow artists Roberto Salas, Tlingit master carver Will Burkhart, and Guillermo (Memo) Jauregui to create this gigantic work. We were assisted by a couple of talented High Schoolers Lisa Teas and Cory Welsh. We finished the project in about a month’s time.
Many Sitkans worked countless hours raising money for the murals and in helping out with the execution of the project. Lisa Busch kicked things off a few years ago when she won the Volvo for Life award for her volunteer work around Sitka and put her award money toward the mural.
The Rasmuson Foundation also contributed substantially, paying for most of the materials and paint. John Straley (Alaska’s writer laureate!)worked as a volunteer project manager and did wonders in raising money in the community. His son Finn Straley worked many hours along with carpenter extraordinaire Pat Hughes during the installation and hanging. Megan Pasternak worked many hours helping us with the execution of the piece. Russell’s Store for Men kicked in with a rather nice donation. Barth and Mary Alice Hamberg put me up in their lovely abode and fed me many a fine meal. The Sitka Arts Council spearheaded the whole thing. Jamie Autry acted as our official host at the University of Alaska Sitka campus, where we painted the panels in an old aircraft hanger. Artist Nick Galanin spent time working with his Uncle Will Burkhart.
It really takes a community to paint a mural on this scale. Thank you Sitka!
Here’s a photo of the credit panel we painted for the debut party we had in mid-June:
Here are some snapshots of the mural:
In the summer of 2001 I worked with a team of artists painting a 40 foot long trailer for the Alaska Fish and Game Department. It’s a mobile classroom that travels from town to town educating kids about the cool ways of Alaskan Fish
Fellow artists Roberto Salas, Guillermo Juaragui, and Carla Potter worked with me in covering every inch of the trailer’s surface. We finished the job after 9 days of very intense labor. Fritz Kraus with the State’s sport fish division was the main power behind making this whole incredible thing happen. I’ve worked with Roberto on several other projects in recent years. We did two jellies murals for the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the summer of 2002. You can see examples of his other public art projects at www.robertosalas.com.
As part of the “Jellies, Living Art” ongoing exhibit, I painted two large murals with my artist pals, Roberto Salas, Carla Potter and Kate Spencer in late August. One of the murals is on display at the aquarium and the other is at the Moss Landing Marine Lab.
