Biography

Wayland Moore is an American artist born in 1935. A native of Belton, South Carolina, he graduated from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. Moore has received international acclaim for his artwork, which captures the excitement of events such as the Winter and Summer Olympics, America’s Cup, U.S. Open, the Masters, and countless other sporting events. His original pieces and limited-edition prints can be found in private and corporate collections around the world. In addition to creating collectible art for many years, Moore conducts workshops and has taught art classes at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, for over a decade. Since Moore has worked so effectively in the sports idiom, referring to him as an “artistic triple threat” would not be inappropriate. He has achieved high competence and received critical acclaim as an illustrator, cartoonist, and painter. As an illustrator, he is much in demand and is one of the few Southerners belonging to the Society of Illustrators of New York. In 1967, his work for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune earned him a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning. After graduating from high school in Belton, South Carolina—where he received his first formal art training—Moore majored in commercial design at the Ringling School of Art. After graduation, he worked for a design house in Greenville, South Carolina, served as art director for an NBC-TV affiliate, art director for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and senior illustrator for an Atlanta studio. In 1971, he opened Wayland Moore Studios, located at Atlanta Stadium, where he served as graphics director for the Atlanta Braves, combining his professional career in art with his lifelong love of sports. In addition to his Pulitzer Prize nomination, Moore has published a book of his Florida Sketches, contributed a front-page cartoon now housed in the permanent collection at Walt Disney Studios in California, and been honored with a scholarship in his name at the Ringling School of Art. His artistic assignments have included coverage of the Indianapolis 500, PGA golf tournaments, Can-Am races, and the legendary 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in Houston’s Astrodome. An athlete who paints, Wayland Moore has achieved preeminence in the sports world through his multifaceted background. A football player who turned down athletic scholarships to attend art school, a Pulitzer Prize nominee for editorial cartooning who became graphics director for a Major League Baseball team—most importantly, an artist with the rare ability to capture a moment without freezing it, a skill that comes from having been there as an athlete himself.