Medium, messages at kids’ festival

Mikhalla Perry concentrated on getting the seaweed background to look right as she painted on her T-shirt Sunday. Next, she would add her favorite animal, the dolphin.

But the Huntington Beach 12-year-old wasn’t just there to decorate at the Festival of Children on South Coast Plaza’s Carousel Court. She had a message.

“The oceans are important, and you’ll probably find more things you need in the ocean,” Mikhalla said.

That was just the kind of attitude muralist Wyland, who goes by only the one name, was trying to get the hundreds of kids to buy into at Sunday’s festival.

“This may be the most important thing we do, passing on our knowledge to kids,” Wyland said. “I feel art can play an important part in getting the message out.”

The Laguna Beach resident has been working to bring children the big picture with his art ever since 1981 when he painted his first mural. Wyland, known for his elaborate and populated ocean scenes, led groups of kids in a mural aimed at inspiring coming generations to love art and science.

“It doesn’t do anything to think about protecting one piece of water without thinking about the next,” he said.

The Festival of Children in the shopping center will continue through the end of the month. Its aim is to bring youths together with culture.

Around the carousel, parents and children can stop by booths offering information on a variety of kid-oriented organizations. Elsewhere there are many other activities for kids.

At one table on Sunday Newport Beach Plaza Retirement Community residents sat with the children to make and decorate a variety of paper hats.

At another, Tickled Pink artists painted butterflies on the cheeks of some children. Some kids got cat-mask face paintings and other creations.

Five-year-old Aaron Yang from Westminster requested a flying dragon on his cheek and across his forehead. His big sister Amy Yang got a completely pink face. It’s what she called the “princess makeover.”

“I like princesses because they’re pretty,” she said.

Aaron was too shy to say what he liked about dragons, but it was clear they’re among his favorites.

Meanwhile, at center stage, Wyland got the kids started on a collaborative mural by painting a large dolphin swimming above hundreds of tiny sea creatures.

In October Wyland will embark on his own sea-faring journey down the Mississippi River, beginning in Minneapolis and working his way south, testing the water to New Orleans where the river hits the Gulf of Mexico.

Elsewhere at Sunday’s festival, the Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center and the Surfrider Foundation partnered for an event designed to work with Wyland’s presentation on environmental awareness and paint.

In partnering with the arts foundation for the first time, Surfrider representatives were able to have a presence at the event. Previously the organization could not because Surfrider’s not just for kids.

“It’s been a great opportunity to be with kids and bring a message,” said Olaf Lohr of Surfrider. “Every kid loves the ocean and wants to learn about it.”

With T-shirts donated by Surfrider, children like Mikhalla sponge-painted different creatures of the sea onto something they could take home and wear.