Art for People....Beginings

: Martine & Andy

Art for People was created by Andy Holmes and Martine Bedard as a way to raise money to support creativity, peace and love around the world. Art is an immediate and vibrant way to connect with people, communities and cultures. As art makers, we feel we have the opportunity to be embassadors of creativity. Whether through selling art, donating art to creative causes or facilitating art projects, we feel fortunate in our ability to access a creative energy and share it with others

: family.....on our bike trip to Mexico

Andy and Martine Live in Rossland, B.C., with their two daughters Sylvie and Lily. When not painting, they enjoy the outdoors and travelling.

Beginnings

: Valley of Fire, Nevada

: roadside picnic

: Arizona

The idea for Art for People began with a bike trip. In 2005, we decided to bike to Arizona from Canada with our daughters Sylve and Lily (aged 1 and 2 at the time). We decided to have a fundraiser to help us on our journey which was to last a year. Soon after planning the fundraiser, we decided to give the money to different charities rather than using it for our own purposes. From this, we quickly realized the potential for raising money through art sales and decided to create Art for people. Now, we sell art with two purposes: to support our simple lifestyles and to fundraise for creative projects....some of which we create, and some of which already exist and which we support from the proceeds of fundraisers. As the inception of Art for people began with a bike trip, we thought we would share some of the photos from this journey. We certainly learned alot about ourselves and appreciated the openness and generousity of people we met along the way....

The freedom of the open road on bicycles is truly magical. Traveling slowly on backraods we felt we were a part of the scenery and environment rather than simply traveling through it....

We met many generous people and found adventure and fun in the most fantastic places

The end of the bike trip brought us to Diamond Mountain University (Diamond Mountain) where we were graciously accepted into the community. We became the artists in residence and ended our stay with an art show which raised money for the university and for The Casa Elizabeth Orphanage in Mexico.