This quilt is one of a series of quilts I generated following Election Day 2024. There were so many changes to laws, funding, access – especially related to my discipline and my research – that I used my sewing machine for Processing the Policies from that time and to represent events and actions moving forward. Explore the collection.
The Background
In 1981, artist and conservationist Robert Wyland began his journey of painting life-size murals of whales and other marine animals in cities across the globe. His mission was to increase awareness of and efforts towards environmental conservation by utilizing the outside walls of buildings as his canvas. By 2008, Wyland had painted 100 murals (see the list on the Wyland Foundation website and Wikipedia).
Unfortunately, not all of Wyland’s murals remain. Some of the buildings that showcased these outdoor installations have been torn down. And some of the existing murals were intentionally painted over by the owners of the buildings or city developers. For example, I previously summarized the extinction of Philadelphia’s whaling wall, East Coast Humpbacks (#42). But there has been some positive outcomes even after these losses, such as Seattle losing its whaling wall (#5 of the 100) just ten years after it was painted, and then having Wyland return to Seattle to repaint the mural in the same location (now mural #101!).
The Dallas Whaling Wall
Yet again, there has been the loss of another Wyland whaling wall – this time, in Dallas, Texas (#82, Ocean Life, completed 1999). In summer 2026, the FIFA World Cup competition was played in North America. Nine of the games were played in Dallas, the city with the highest number of scheduled match-ups. To prepare for the event, a significant advertising campaign commenced, targeting locations for ads on buildings – including the parking garage that showcased Wyland’s whale mural for approximately 30 years. A layer of bright blue paint covered Wyland’s mural on the long side of the building, with only a small piece of sky remaining in the upper-right corner (the mural on the short side was not touched).
This action of covering Wyland’s mural was not well-received, with the artist or residents of Dallas. AP News reported on May 19 that An outcry erupts as a whale mural beloved by many in Dallas is replaced with art for the World Cup. Then, on June 3, AP News stated that Artist suing FIFA over destruction of Dallas whale mural before World Cup. The article mentions that “Wyland’s lawsuit alleges violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 federal law that protects artwork of “recognized stature” even if someone else owns the physical artwork.” Descriptions of VARA can be found on Congress.gov and Wikipedia. Work on the FIFA advertising was suspended with the filing of the lawsuit.
These embedded posts from Instagram provide snapshots of the building and the missing mural.
The Quilt
I can’t imagine the feelings of the artist, the residents of Dallas, or of anyone that cares about ocean conservation and the protections needed by whales and other marine creatures. My heart sinks each time I hear about the disappearance of any of these whaling walls. As Wyland decided to take action and file a lawsuit, I decided to take my own action by making a quilt to raise awareness not just of the whaling walls but the loss of public art.
For the quilt, I included a skyline of buildings along the top and the cars looking as if they are parked in front of the building below. Black and white were the colors selected for these two features to keep the brightness and color focus on the building of interest. The blue fabric on the long face is where the mural was painted over, save for a small patch in the upper-right corner. The short side of the building has a breaching humpback whale, mirroring the wall that was not touched on this eight-story building.
I hope that this quilt can raise awareness of not only ocean conservation, but how vulnerable public art is to damage and/or complete deletion.
This quilt was completed July 17, 2026, and measures 22 inches tall by 27 inches wide. The fabrics for the city skyline, parked cars, the whale, and backing are all from designers on Spoonflower.
Journeys of Dr. G 