Television and Radio appearances
"Montreal artist paints happy smiles" Tony Bennett provides the inspiration
By Hollie Watson THE MONTREAL CHRONICLE , June 25, 2003
Eric Waugh of Dollard-des-Ormeaux is a gifted and prolific artist whose largely abstract works can be found in art collections across the continent. He is also an artist with a cause - one whose efforts recently raised nearly $25,000 for Starlight Children's Foundation Canada.
Earlier this month, Waugh created a painting live at the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Gala Ball at Windsor Station. "I painted Tony Bennett and his band," said Waugh, adding the legendary singer was a guest of the Gala and the evening's featured performer. "I came in a couple of songs into the show, and did the painting while they performed, in about an hour. Bennett is also an artist, which is one of the reasons he agreed to do this." There was a "bidding war" for the 36-by-72-inch acrylic, which Bennett signed, and which was auctioned for $15,000 to the Casino de Montreal, where it will go on permanent display. "And since this was the 25th anniversary of the Grand Prix, I suggested doing something special," Waugh said. So he painted and donated 25 black and white portraits of Grand Prix winners through the years. A silent auction of those works again raised upwards of $12,000.
"Eric has been involved with us for about four years," said Brian Bringolf, executive director of the foundations Montreal chapter. Waugh was also invited to last year's fundraising gala, where an auction of his painting raised $7,000. "We were also the beneficiaries of half the funds raised when he created the world's largest painting," he explained. (The other proceeds went to Camp Heartland in Minnesota, which runs programs for children whose lives are affected by AIDS). That project, which took five years to complete, was unveiled at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Dec.,2001. The 41,400-sq. ft. work earned Waugh a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. "Eric has also helped us develop our holiday cards, which raise as much as $100,000 a year from the corporate sector," Bringolf said. "The mission of the foundation per se is to help brighten the lives of seriously ill children and their families, through granting wishes, renovations of pediatric playrooms in hospitals, and providing mobile entertainment units which can be wheeled around the wards," he said. The foundation is in fact spearheading a concept that is new to Quebec. The province's first Starlight Room is scheduled to open in September in the Montreal Children's Hospital's psychiatric wing, and again Waugh is actively involved. The newly refurbished space is designed as an "oasis" for the resident patients of the ward. The whimsical murals he is in the process of painting on the Starlight Room's walls include a "cityscape, and a 'solarium' that feels like a park, with hills and green grass." As for his motivation, Waugh said that as the father of three healthy children, he counts his blessings, and feels rewarded by reaching out to others through his art.
Since November, Waugh has also been busy doing live art performances at different venues in the United States, and Bennett is not the only celebrity with whom he has rubbed shoulders of late. He recently took part in a fundraiser for an Atlanta children's shelter with jazz musicians Freddy Cole (Nat King's brother), and also met entertainment mogul Ted Turner at a benefit to fight poverty. Plans in the near future include an upcoming benefit featuring pop icon Elton John.
