With brushes and plastic cups of paint in hand, more than a dozen third-graders painted blue and green fish, purple turtles and black crabs on a background of the Chesapeake Bay.
The students from Excellence Christian School in Upper Marlboro lent their talents to an 8-by-20-foot mural in front of the National Aquarium in Baltimore City?s Inner Harbor as part of marine artist Wyland?s tour to teach water preservation.
“I truly believe by painting the animals, they become more aware and sensitive and will become better stewards,” said Wyland, an advocate and artist known for his oversized Whaling Wall murals worldwide.
Baltimore City was the third stop on the Wyland Foundation?s fourth annual Clean Water Challenge Tour, on which Wyland is campaigning for clean water by using his trademark marine paintings.
Wyland sketched the background of the Bay in bright blues and greens, and throughout the day, hundreds of area students were adding marine life to the mural, which will be donated to the aquarium.
This year?s tour, titled Every Drop Counts, includes a mobile education center. Inside, students can watch a video with celebrities such as skateboard legend Tony Hawk. The video tells students to keep the city streets clean of trash to save the oceans. The students can participate in water demonstrations, such as eyeing a sample of the Bay through a giant microscope.
“It?s important to inspire the next generation,” said Jennifer Martin, Wyland Foundation project coordinator, adding the classroom will tour schools.
Before setting the children loose on the mural, an education specialist from the aquarium tells the seated crowd about animals in the Bay, from sea urchins to frogs.
A group of seven kindergarten classes from Patuxent Elementary School in Upper Marlboro came to the event as part of a lesson on colors and fish. Chalyn Bishop, 5, was learning “what lives in the sea,” she said, adding she planned to paint a jellyfish.
Behind her, Wyland called to the children, “Let me hear you guys say, ?Conservation!? ”
ON THE NET
For more information on the Clean Water Challenge Tour, visit wylandoceanchallenge.org.
