Art of awareness

Graphic artist Charles Murray hopes his new gallery will encourage protection of the environment.When Charles Murray was casually surfing the Internet one day, he typed in the address endangeredplanet.org -- and nothing came up.

That marked the moment of inspiration for a business Murray has set up to raise awareness about the environment and sell artwork with a message.

“You stumble through life, and then you hit something,” Murray said. “There’s a reason I just found this.”

At 48 years old, Murray, a graphic artist, has dedicated half of each working day to his company, Endangered Planet LLC, which will be celebrating its grand opening in a Forest Avenue space on Thursday.

In addition to displaying original art pieces created by Murray, the gallery will sell books, DVDs and clothing selected for its environmentally sensitive content.

A special section for children was modeled after the tastes of Murray’s three-year-old son, Oliver.

“We carefully selected books to target our mission statement,” Murray said.

The mission statement, according to Murray, helps keep the focus on educating the public about the environment and culture.

“The gallery is set up as a business to inform,” Murray said.

“I want intelligent development,” Murray said. “My life and spirit is environmental.”

Ten percent of the company’s profits go to the Red Cross and into a fund that Murray says he will transform into a nonprofit organization.

With business partner Dick Ward, a former head of marketing at a beer company, Endangered Planet is also setting up stores in Santa Barbara, Hawaii and Lake Arrowhead.