Art as Healing: Revisiting ART FOR CHANGE’s Afreaks Mini Mushroom Commission
Haas Brothers support HALO’s Uganda Learning Center
ART FOR CHANGE was privileged to share a piece of the Haas Brother’s visual world with our collectors last year through the limited run of the Afreaks Mini Mushroom sculptures in support of HALO Worldwide’s Uganda Learning Center. Using art as a tool for healing, the center arms kids with the tools they need to craft new visions of their future. At the Uganda Learning Center youth from the HALO homes are provided a space to express themselves, develop the life skills to maintain healthy habits and relationships, and feel confident in their expressive capacities.
“ART FOR CHANGE and the Haas Brothers understand how critical art is to HALO’s mission, and this collaboration has helped to ensure we can continue to provide these opportunities to the communities we serve.” said HALO Founder and CEO Rebecca Welsh. "HALO believes that every child should have the support of a family who knows they can achieve their dreams.[...] We work with homeless and at-risk kids facing incredible obstacles—helping them envision their creative futures through housing, healing and education services.”
With a studio practice spanning over a decade, the Haas Brothers’ earnest admiration for craft and material inspired the Afreaks Mini Mushrooms sculpture—a continuation of their 2015 series Afreaks.
Niki and Simon Haas have been building a creative language with one another since childhood, making HALO Worldwide a natural choice for the commission.
“The beaded mushrooms were our access into a world of artistic expression and supportive social influence that felt completely unachievable. The opportunity to work like this was always in front of us, but it took these objects to open us to it,” says Niki Haas on the project.
In collaboration with our partners, ART FOR CHANGE looks forward to providing more individuals with the opportunity to design their own world. It is a privilege to work with such passionate teams and we are eager to continue sharing our ongoing projects with you throughout the year.
