Atrium Gallery, Atlanta International Airport

“PAINT A FUTURE”:
Dreams From Brazil
July 22 – September
info@paintafuture.org


“Dreams From Brazil”. Fifteen Brazilian severely underprivileged children painted their hopes and dreams on a piece of paper: fifteen renowned artists from all different countries incorporated those paper dreams into their canvases.

This exhibition shows how art can be a bridge between the two extremities of our society. For the price of a $2,700 painting hanging on a wall and entire home can be constructed for a family in Brazil, creating a roof and walls that never existed before.

Dutch artist Hetty van der Linden is a dreamcatcher who shows us through her project how much just a little stroke of a brush is able to achieve and how far it can reach. From Europe to Africa and Latin America, Hetty has been stimulating children, who have been deprived of the right to be joyful and carefree, to dream and believe in their dreams again thus giving them hope: “your paintbrush is a magic want, close your eyes and paint a wish……..”
Not only does Hetty give these children, ranging from street children to war orphans, a temporary escape from their often harsh realities. By incorporating the works of the children into her own canvases and inviting her colleagues all over the world to join her, she is subsequently able to realize many dreams with the whole benefits of the sales.

Aim of the project
Hetty van der Linden sees art as a possibility to help children all over the world. These children all have a poor future perspective, because of poverty, war or violence. Specific aim of her project is to contribute to the development and education of children. Hetty visits these children and paints with them. She stimulates the children to talk about their dreams and hopes, and encourages them to paint them. The dreams of these children and their innermost aspirations and beliefs are expressed through their works of art, their verbal accounts further elaborate onthem.Their own fantasy about their future is the inspiration for the small work of art they make. The personal encounter of Hetty with the children contributes to the inspiration too. For a moment, she gives the children the feeling to be in control of their life and their future.
The children’s paintings is the basis for a work of art made by Hetty and over a hundred artists all over the world. They incorporate the cildren’s drawing in their painting. A big canvas is the result of this cooperation. Serigraphs are made from this canvas, expressing hopes and wishes of the children. Both the canvas and serigraphs are for sale. All the income will be used to make the children’s dreams come true.



‘I know it wasn’t going to be difficult make children all of the world paint about their hopes and dreams. Especially in the parts of the world where children still have many things to dream about. It was challenging for me as an artist to transform those dreams into paintings that could make a difference. I just never imagined that this idea would be so contagious and encourage so many artists, musicians, filmmakers ownwrs of resorts all over the world to do join the project with so much love and passion.’
Hetty van der Linden

The paintings were created at Pousada Quinta do Bucanero, Pousada Ilha Papagaio, (Santa Catarina,Brazil), Termas de Reyes, (Jujuy, Argentina) and Kasteel Herlaer, Sint Michielsgestel by special invitation of the owners.
All materials were provided by Royal Talens.






THIS PAINTING HAS BEEN SOLD. A HOUSE FOR LUCIANAS NEIGHBOURS WILL BE BUILD SOON.


Artist: Tomás O'Cíobháin - Ireland
Child: Luciana (9)

Luciana lives in the slums near to Florianopolis,
Brazil. Her mother passed away two years
ago and she lived in a tiny one room house with
her alcoholic father & teenage brother.
For numerous reasons we found this particular
situation urgent enough to intervene immediately.
She lives now in this beautifull little house, her dream
is to see other children living in such houses.

Tomás O'Cíobháin - Ireland
Primarily known as a etcher and now as a painter
using oils as well as acrylics. He lives and works in
Cork Kerry, Ireland




SOLD / DREAM ACCOMPLISHED !
Even before the exhibition at Atrium gallery started this wonderfull
painting by american artist Pam Toll was purchased by Michael and
Marilou. Nadirs dream will be realised verry soon.



SOLD

Pregnant Nadir, still hesitating to participate at the painting session.
When she was encouraged to paint the dream of the baby she was
carrying she imediatly started to paint a house.


imediatelly after the selling of the painting we started to build the new house.
On Cristmass day the family will live in their new house.



SOLD



Some of the showed paintings ara made to help the Guarani tribe,
near to the city of Florianopolis. Due to the construction of a new
highway they have to move from their land and will need to build
up a new village.

http://www.hettyvanderlinden.com/paf_comments.php?id=140_0_9_0_C






Artist: Monica Rotgans – Holland
Child: Jonathan (7)

Jonathan lives in the slums near to the capital of the
state of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis. His dream is
to live in a better house and to learn how to use a
computer. Paint a Future in collaboration with CDI, a
South American organization that provides
computer hard & software, also has a program for
training teachers to go into to communities and
teach children computer skills. The collaboration
between our two organizations will provide the
children with fully functional computers and a
teacher.

The sale of this painting will pay one teachers salary
for an entire year.

Monica Rotgans – Holland
Monica is a Dutch artist who studied at the Rijks
Academy of Amsterdam mostly paints with oil. She
has also written a book about making paint from all
kinds of natural materials. She lives and works in
Amsterdam.





Artist: Manuel Oyonarte – Spain
Child: Anderson (3)

Anderson goes to a daycare center run by nuns on
the outskirts of Florianopolis. Here the children get
three well balanced meals a day. There
are many children on the waiting list and Sister,
Edite the head nun, would like to expand the
building. If you ask the children to paint their
dreams they mostly paint nice little houses and in
this case also a playground.

With the sale of this painting we will build a
playground.

Manuel Oyonarte – Spain
Manuel participated at the second international art
meeting for Paint a Future in Florianopolis in 2007.
He lives and works in Madrid.






Artist: Lorenzo Moya - Chile
Child: Jaison (10)

Jaison lives in the suburb Penitentiaria, an area of
little houses built around a large jail. His dream is
to design cars and motorcycle. He is a very
intelligent child and a wonderful student.

Lorenzo Moya – Chile
Lorenzo’s favorite subject is the sea, he has had
exhibitions of his work all over the world. He has
been a participant of the Paint a Future project since
2003 he was one of the first artist to join the cause.
He lives and works in Santiago, Chile







Artist: Adel Seyoun - Iraq
Child: Luciana (9)

Luciana lives in the slums near to Florianopolis,
Brazil. Her mother passed away two years
ago and she now lives in a tiny one room house with
her alcoholic father & teenage brother. Most of the
time they don’t go to school because they are forced
to help their father collect & separate trash.

For numerous reasons we found this particular
situation urgent enough to intervene immediately.
We began building housing prior to the
sale of this painting. With her own bed and room
Luciana is now the happiest little girl in the slum. As
a stipulation to us building this house their father is
obligated to send his children to school and we will
be mentoring the progress of the family.

Adel Seyoun – Iraq
Adel was born and raised in Bagdad where she also
attended Art school. Adel now lives and works in
Slovenia.






Artist: Lone Seeberg – Denmark
Child: Maira (4)

4 Year old Maira is a little Guarani Indian girl. She
lives in a small community a couple of hours drive
from Florianopolis. Because of the construction of a
new highway they have to relocate and will be in
need of everything. The sale of this painting will
help them begin the building process.


Lone Seeberg – Denmark
Danish artist Seebergs’ work is colorful and
expressionistic. She works and lives in Jyderup,
Denmark



SOLD / DREAM ACCOMPLISHED !

Artist: Suzanne van Reenen – South Africa
Child: Cleber Tadeu dos Santos (8)

Cleber: “My dream is to one day have a little house
so I don’t have to live on the streets anymore. I have
lived with my mother and sister under a bridge for as
long as I can remember. When I was hungry it made
me sad to watch other people eat. I want to be a
Police Officer so I can throw all of the criminals in
jail.”

Cleber as a neglected boy lived on the street, slept
under bridges and kept himself alive collecting
trash. In spite of that he is vibrant and has lots of
energy. He got the basics from his alcoholic mother
who was not really able to support him. Cleber
needs a lot of help to keep him on the right path. His
wish is to have a little house so they don’t have to
live on the streets anymore.

Last news, Clebers mother died of drug and alcohol adiction.
The painting is sold.
Cleber needs psycological treatment.
The money of the painting is used to cover all his needs in the near future.

Suzanne van Reenen – South Africa
Studied art in Holland and lives and works in
Amsterdam.



SOLD.....WISH ACCOMPLISHED....
Artist: Hetty van der Linden – Holland
Child: Arajera (10)

Arajera is a member of the Guaranie Indian
community in the mountains near to Florianopolis, in
the state of Santa Catrina, Southwest Brazil.
Because of the construction of a new highway the
entire community has to be relocated. The new
location is bare and needs to be totally constructed
from the ground up. They are in need of
everything. The Indian children don’t have specific
dreams of materials things but are more concerned
with the preservation of their language and culture.

The sale of this painting will help to begin the
construction of the new village.


Thanks to the selling of this painting the indian tribe receives weekly a truck with food. Until they will be able to harvest products of their new land.
Atlanta Airport bought this painting



Hetty van der Linden – Holland
Is the Founder of Paint a Future. She studied art in
Toledo, Spain, is now dedicated to the children and
is using art as a weapon to fight for a better future
for underprivileged children all over the world.









august 3
Back to the favela to bring the good news: