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News & Events | Media
The Big Picture
Written By: People , 1/21/02, page 136
1/21/2002
With a record-shattering painting, artist Eric Waugh hopes to raise millions for kids with AIDS and other ills
When Eric Waugh unveiled his grandest work ever on Dec. 1 on the grounds of th North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, the guest list went beyond the usual art fanciers. First, there was teh rep from Guinness World Records , on hand to certify that Waugh's Hero is the world's largest painting created by one person. More important, though, in the cheering crowd were two HIV-positive chidren, among the thousands Waugh, 38, hopes to help as the 180-ft.-by-230-ft. work is sold off in chunks. "Eric has extraordinary compassion," says Neil Willenson, 31, CEO of Camp Heartland, an outdoor retreat for kids with HIV/AIDS, based in Willow River, Minn. "And he thinks big."
 The idea for Hero was born in 1995, when Waugh, lounging in his Montreal home, caught a documentary about a Heartland camper with AIDS ( Before Your Eyes: Angeleie's Secret ). "I thought of my healthy boys that I had just tucked in," says the artist and father or three. He turned to his wife Dini, 39, and said, "I've got to help." Soon afterward he created a small semiabstract painting of an adult embracing a child and donated it as a fund-raising poster for the camp. The print raised thousands of dollars and even made a cameo on Seinfeld and ER . "But I wanted to make a bigger impact," says Waugh, who set about expanding Hero to epic proporations.
The work, made of 1,656 canvases hooked together, will be cut into some 41,000 pieces and sold from $80 to $2,000 each to benefit Heartland and the Los Angeles-based Starlight Children's Foundation for ailing kids. Waugh, who often spent 21-hour days working on the project, will now focus his energy on sons Alex, 11, Andrew, 8, and Matthew, 4. Says Dini: "It's time to go back to our nest and just cocoon."
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For general information about Camp Heartland programs and volunteer opportunities, you can contact us at: helpkids@campheartland.org, (414)272-1118 or (800)724-4673 |
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