Lia Morsell

The inspiration for this mural came while Larry Foster was working with Braggadoon Signs and Graphics to arrange and print his book The Art of Discovering Whales, based on his lifetime of work as a marine illustrator specializing in marine mammal anatomy. Kiersten, the owner of Braggadoon connected Larry with Lia Morsell, the director of the Alleyway Art Project and suggested that one of Larry’s illustrations be converted into a mural. Lia agreed, but wanted the mural to be life-sized or larger. She reached out to the North Coast Brewing Company because their brewery has a large wall, and the company has a wonderful history of supporting local marine science and conservation projects. Marta Alonso Canillar was selected to install the mural, and worked closely with Larry to make sure every detail of the Gray Whale in Kelp was depicted correctly, making this one of the most scientifically accurate murals of a Gray Whale in the world. 

“Marta Canillar and I worked beautifully together on ‘Gray Whale in Kelp.’ We wanted to show the true essence of the gray whale and the correct nature of kelp. We also wanted to show off our great North Coast Brewery. This is very good for whales, kelp, beer, and Fort Bragg.” -Larry Foster

• Bull kelp is an annual that can grow between 60 to 100 feet over the course of one season.
• It’s long stipe or stalk can stretch or contract it’s height up to 38% to adjust to daily tides, keeping the kelp ribbons near the surface to allow for maximum photosynthesis.
• The name Nereocystis translates to “mermaid’s bladder”

For more fun facts about kelp check out The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp

Born in Sacramento, California, in 1934, Larry Foster was, from a young age, captivated by the largest animals on Earth—whales. Larry’s education is not in biology or scientific illustration, but rather in fine art; he earned a BA (1956) and an MA (1960) from California State University Sacramento.

Under the guidance of profound teacher, artist, and friend Wayne Thiebaud, Larry’s scholarly accomplishments became advanced. This training in the formal values of art helped Larry develop his awareness in color themes and classic composition, and sharpened his ability to capture the very essence of each subject. With an insistent draft citation from the U.S. Army in the late 1950s, Larry served a two-year tour of duty in Colorado Springs, then, worked as a technical illustrator at Aerojet General in Rancho Cordova, California, while studying for his master’s degree. He secured a position as an art teacher at Encina High School in Sacramento, and six years later,  established teaching positions at California State University Hayward, as well as at California College of Arts and Crafts, and Laney College, both in Oakland.

In the 1960s, many people began to look more closely at the deterioration of the Earth’s flora and fauna caused by humankind’s routine indifference. So, with that in mind and with a growing urge to study external whale anatomy, Larry dived into an aesthetic examination of whales and dolphins (Cetacea). His intention was to produce anatomically precise depictions of all species of Cetacea, a challenge fraught with difficulty. Whales are not easy subjects of living studies today; and this was especially true back in the 1960s and ’70s.

It was during this period that Larry created a non-profit cetological group called General Whale to promote efforts to spread the love of whales through art. He produced whale prints, posters, illustrations, bumper stickers, pewter jewelry, pendants, hat emblems, bumper stickers, more and more, as well as life-sized whale sculptures that traveled across the United States to promote whale conservation.

“I became so engrossed in my quest for information on the external anatomy of Cetacea that I became divorced, quit my teaching job in Sacramento, moved to Oakland, and lived in a warehouse, which was a great whale studio. After several years of intense study and high artistic output, all at the grassroots level, many new images of whales, from glass to life-size sculptures and everything in between, were developing. Everything I did was a first. The animals were found to be not blimp shaped but more attenuate, with profoundly beautiful body forms. Then, to my surprise, National Geographic magazine came to me. They wanted to see and publish my corrected views of whales. So did the Smithsonian and many other publications, museums, universities, and environmental institutions. I was making whales look good for the first time. Today, over five decades later, I still am..” -Larry Foster

Before Larry’s pioneering anatomically correct whale depictions, guesswork by whale artists had always prevailed. Larry played a key role in differentiating whales from whaling, and educated millions of humans over the years to appreciate the incredible and unique, sleek, streamlined, beautiful animals that whales are.

No other single individual has done so much to correct our misinterpretations of the appearance of any group of animals as Larry.

Dr. James Mead, Curator of Marine Mammals at the  Smithsonian Institution, has said of his work, “Larry Foster has turned whale illustration into a science. The depictions that he has done are the most anatomically correct I have seen.”

Larry and his sweetie, Mary, live on the beautiful Mendocino Coast with their highly evolved dog Jack.

Marta moved to the United States from Spain when she was 21 and eventually found her way to Mendocino  in 2001. Like many artists, she feels like her artistic journey is intrinsically tied to her journey in life. It’s a journey to find the courage to overcome all manner of insecurities and obstacles to be an artist. She found an inspiring mentor In 2014 when she took an oil painting class with Cynda Valley, a Willits artist at the time.  She describes the experience as “uniquely heart and soul opening.” Cynda taught her the technicalities of oil painting but also encouraged her to look at her art as part of her self, and extension of her being, and to confidently experiment and explore.  Marta clearly has a gift for drawing inspiration from the world, colors, shapes and patterns around herself. She is drawn to portraits, with  a strong connection through the eyes, rural settings, farm animals, old barns, bees, hearts and peeling walls and rusty elements, dreams and made up realities. 

Visit martaalonsocanillar.com to view more of Marta’s artwork or contact her to commission your own mural.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to paint big, but I never thought I would be doing anything this big.” -Marta

Roundman’s Smokehouse commissioned and funded this mural. Their only request was for a compact design that represented our part of the coast.

Nicola chose the elements of a whale and a forest because they are two of her favorite things in the area. She was born in Scotland, but moved to the Bay Area as a teenager, and then up to Chico. She’s only sort of joking when she says she moved to Fort Bragg from Chico to get away from the sunshine. Mostly, she just missed living near a coast.

“As a kid in Scotland you can see whales off the coast, so it was pretty neat to come to the other side of the planet and see the same thing. The oceans are all quite  interconnected. I liked the idea of portraying the biological interconnectedness of these two adjacent but very different ecosystems, the oceans and the redwoods. In my experience living hee, it feels like the ocean and forest are on top of each other..”

From November to February, the California Gray Whales can be seen migrating south to Baja. There, the pregnant females give birth. Starting in February and March, the whales migrate back north to Alaska with their newborn calves.

There are lots of great places to watch whales, but my personal favorite is from the very tip of MacKerricher state park’s boardwalk out on the headlands.

Those white dots on the whale’s back are barnacles. There is one species of barnacle and three species of whale lice that live on the gray whale. The barnacle (Cryptolepas rhachianecti) is unique to the gray whale, and of the three species of whale lice (in the genus Cyamus), two are found only on gray whales.

Here’s some more about grey whales from our friends at the Noyo Center for Marine Science

Art Explorers, Inc. is a non-profit creative arts program in Fort Bragg, California, that serves adult artists with developmental disabilities and brain injuries. We currently have an enrollment of 36 students, including some who have been participating for over 20 years. We have a spacious studio and gallery in the downtown area, where we exhibit and sell artwork on an on-going basis. We operate a 5-day a week program. Our funding comes from the Redwood Coast Regional Center and donations from the public.

Art is a universal, non-verbal language, without definite rules or restrictions. Our mission is to provide a fun, artistically stimulating environment for creativity to thrive, where people with disabilities are welcomed and accepted as artists. We nurture each individual artist to follow their passion, to discover the right art materials, and to find their own unique style and voice. Our studio is an uplifting, magical place…creating art together gives people a sense of purpose, and promotes camaraderie. This helps to combat the isolation that’s inherently part of the lives of many. We believe that art transforms lives, and opens the window to the deepest expression and yearnings of the human spirit. For more information or to make a donation, please visit our website: www.artexplorers.org

If you are standing in front of these three murals, the Art Explorers studio is right across the street to your left, at 333 Franklin. They are open Tuesday- Saturdays 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Go say hi and see what the artists are working on this week.

This is Jason’s vision of the COVID virus. Unlike the green blob with red dots, which can seem to connote malevolent stickiness, Jason depicts it as a passive cloud of, mechanical programming. Often our language around viruses can anthropomorphize them, as if they are “looking for a new host.” In truth, they are simple biological systems, passively transported to environments where they infect and replicate, or inhospitable locations where they are destroyed by the elements. In 2020, they loom over the landscape like the low clouds of an approaching storm.

The crocodile is a reference to the health alert levels of yellow, orange, red and purple that were used to communicate the rates of infection within Mendocino county. Like many of us, Jason distinctly remembers  watching with increasing alarm as we edged closer and closer into the purple zone.

Jason was inspired by mural fragments found in the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan. Check out the De Young’s incredible collection here.

Virus particulate drifts out of the crocodile’s mouth, curling towards flowers, abalone, starfish, California poppies, and a child in a mask, a reference to the phase of the pandemic when we hadn’t yet fully identified the virus’s methods of transmission or persistence on surfaces. Every footstep outside the house felt suffused with risk.

This alarmed creature with it’s head in a glass bell is a reference to the feeling of moon-suit sensory deprivation feeling you can get when walking around wearing a mask, glasses, and often earpods.

It’s also a direct reference to Heironymous Bosch’s famous tryptich The Garden of Earthly Delights, painted 1490-1500AD.
​As the daily fear and anxiety of 2020 gave way to pandemic exhaustion in 2021, many people tried to reestablish social connections through small group pods, with varying degrees of success.

Jason remembers feeling like one strange creature out of many, drifting across the landscape of Fort Bragg, greeting friends from inside a self-imposed bubble of personal space.

The bubonic plague or Black Death swept through Europe in waves of infection and re-infection between 1345 and 1353. Though Bosch’s famous work is a warning against sinfulness and lust, it was within the context of a society still reeling from a pandemic catastrophe which seemed to the people at the time to choose its victims at random. Many people then, like now, chose to confront the randomness by throwing caution to the wind and living for maximum pleasure.