Television and Radio appearances
Montreal artist making the world a better place
By Nadine Ishak City News Sunday, August 24, 1997
Once a poor, struggling artist, Eric Waugh knows exactly what he’s going to do with the money he will make when he completes the world’s largest painting next year - give it away. Waugh, whose work is now shown in major cities across North America, has devoted the past few years of his life to helping children affected and infected by the AIDS virus. “It’s become more of an obsession than a mission,” says the 34-year-old Montreal native.
It all started after Waugh watched “Angelie’s Secret”, a CBS movie about a young girl infected with the AIDS virus who found support at Camp Heartland, North America’s largest summer camping program devoted to children impacted by HIV/AIDS. Waugh was so touched by the story that he spent all night trying to get through to the camp’s 1-800 number, and later travelled to Wisconsin to spend a weekend at the camp. When he returned, the magic began. “I came back, and did [the painting] within two hours,” he said. “It was so effortless. It just flowed out of me.”
“Hero” is the name the artist gave to his painting, which depicts an adult comforting a child. Waugh contacted Top Art Inc., and they made Hero into a fine art poster that’s distributed and sold for $35 - all proceeds go to Camp Heartland. However, he wasn’t satisfied since the ultimate dream of Camp Heartland, which runs one-week camping sessions in Wisconsin, St-Louis and Malibu, is to build a year-round facility. Waugh knew that realizing that dream would need big bucks, so he came up with a big plan - The World’s Largest Painting Project. The goal is to hold a three-hour musical and artistic fundraising event, the main attraction of which would be an immensely magnified replica of Hero. The painting will measure 80,000 square feet, representing the number of children that will lose their parents to AIDS and be orphaned by the year 2000.
Waugh says his wife was hesitant at the beginning, because of the time they both thought such a huge task would take. Waugh was planning to use brushes, rollers and sponges to complete the 3,240 sections of 5 feet by 5 feet each. Luckily, he discovered power sprayers, and instead of 100 feet with the stroke of a paintbrush, Waugh can spray-paint up to 1,200 feet daily. This time saver means that Waugh can still help the children without neglecting his own three sons, aged seven, four and five months.
Last week, Susan Leckey, development director of Camp Heartland, came to Montreal for Waugh’s press conference last week at McGill, and she brought along Jonathon Swain, 14, one of the camp’s “pioneers”. Swain said Waugh is great to hang out with, and called Hero “the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” “It means so much when people donate money,” said Leckey, “but the time he put into all of this you can’t put a dollar sign on - it’s from his heart. How do you thank someone for that?” The event will be held in Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum on AIDS Compassion Day in June 1998. His team is trying to secure major networks for media coverage and young musical talent for entertainment. Waugh is hoping TV talk-show host Rosie O’Donnell will MC the event. The Guinness Book of World Records will send a representative to the event, and if all goes well, will declare Hero as the world’s largest painting. Waugh’s goal is to fill the 75,000-seat arena and raise more then $4 million for Camp Heartland, as well as Camp Oasis, Canada’s first national summer camp for children affected or infected by HIV/AIDS, and the McGill AIDS Center. “He says the kids are heros,” said Leckey of Waugh, “but Eric is our hero, and our guardian angel.”
