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Thirty paintings that crossed a border

El Arte de la Resiliencia is the benefit auction of the 30 works the children of Venezuela's tent camps painted in July. Bids start at $100, and proceeds go to the restricted Venezuela fund, which pays for aid in the camps.

See the 30 works
A boy proudly holds up his pineapple painting during the IHE art workshop.
A pineapple painted in the workshop.

Painted between the tents, with their parents watching

In the July workshops the children painted with markers on canvas and paper while their parents watched, over afternoons between the tents. As someone on the team put it, a child who lost their home has no words for that, and a drawing gives it a place to go.

The finished works traveled to the United States in the team's own luggage.

Now each work is looking for a home. Proceeds go to the restricted Venezuela fund, which pays for aid in the camps where the young artists live.

I went with suitcases full of aid and came back with suitcases full of art.

How it works, in three steps

  1. Choose a workBrowse the 30 works below. Each one is an original, made by a child in the camps during the July mission.
  2. Bid with your cardBids start at $100 per work and each one has to beat the last by at least $10. Your card is saved as a guarantee on Stripe's secure page: bidding charges you nothing.
  3. If you win, the work travels to youWhen a work closes, only the highest bidder pays. We write to you to arrange delivery: shipping is included within the US and international shipping goes at cost.

Each work closes 7 days after its first bid, so every work runs on its own clock. Proceeds go to the restricted Venezuela fund.

The 30 works

Signed works carry the artist's first name only. Every photograph shows the work exactly as it arrived: creases, torn edges, and all.

  • Child's painting on white canvas of a yellow pineapple with teal leaves, drawn in marker with crisscross lines and a small arched door at its base. Signed Mauricio in black along the bottom edge.

    Artwork 01

    The pineapple

    By Mauricio

  • Painting on canvas of Jesus in a beige robe, seen from behind with a halo, painting a rainbow across a blue sky over green hills. The handwritten message reads 'Jesus te ama mas alla de tus errores y debilidades. Amen' beside a small red heart.

    Artwork 02

    Jesus loves you

    Unsigned

  • Painting on white canvas of the Venezuelan flag in yellow, blue, and red brushstrokes with tiny white stars, on a gray pole over a light green ground line. Signed Mauricio in black marker with the date 18-07-2026.

    Artwork 03

    The colors of the flag

    By Mauricio

  • Marker drawing on canvas of the Venezuelan flag on a brown pole, with a yellow sun, a strip of blue sky, outlined clouds, and a small house on a green grass line.

    Artwork 04

    Flag under the sun

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing on canvas of a flag with green, white, and red stripes on a brown pole, beside a yellow sun and a small brown house on a green grass line. Signed ALANY in black capital letters.

    Artwork 05

    Flag, house and sun

    By Alany

  • Painting on white canvas of four outlined flags: Argentina, Venezuela, Portugal, and Brazil, with a black and white soccer ball and a yellow sun. Signed Santiago in blue.

    Artwork 06

    Flags and a soccer ball

    By Santiago

  • Painting of two Spider-Man masks split across a diagonal: one black with white webbing, the other red with black webbing, both with large white eyes, framed by blue patches in the corners of the canvas.

    Artwork 07

    The two faces of Spider-Man

    Unsigned

  • Purple crayon drawing on paper of a figure with a round smiling face atop a tall column of dense scribbled strokes, on a sheet with torn edges.

    Artwork 08

    Strokes in purple

    Unsigned

  • Mint green crayon scribble on textured paper: a dense tangle of looping lines forming a rough ball, with strokes radiating outward.

    Artwork 09

    Green whirl

    Unsigned

  • Crayon drawing on paper of dozens of small hand-drawn rings scattered like confetti, in red, pink, purple, blue, brown, and green.

    Artwork 10

    Colored confetti

    Unsigned

  • Colored pencil drawing of the Venezuelan flag on a brown pole, surrounded by pink hearts, two sparkling multicolored stars, a blue butterfly, and flowers. The penciled phrase at the top reads 'Vamos a pasar esto con fe y paz'.

    Artwork 11

    "We will get through this with faith and peace"

    Unsigned

  • Colored pencil drawing on paper of a large blue and purple butterfly over a flower, surrounded by curling swirls, spiral rosettes, and sparkle stars in magenta, yellow, and blue.

    Artwork 12

    Butterfly and flower with sparkles

    Unsigned

  • Colored pencil drawing on a small torn sheet of a bouquet: a large magenta star-shaped flower, a lilac pompom bloom, sprigs of purple lavender on olive stems, two small red hearts, and a blue spiral.

    Artwork 13

    Bouquet of flowers

    Unsigned

  • Crayon drawing on torn textured paper of a rainbow arching in purple, violet, blue, and yellow between two gray clouds, with a red heart, a pink and yellow kite, and two little smiley faces.

    Artwork 14

    Rainbow and kite

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing on paper of a diagonal train of cloud outlines, each in a different color: gray, black, pink, purple, green, and blue, with light blue rain dashes falling underneath.

    Artwork 15

    Train of clouds

    Unsigned

  • Faint crayon sketch on paper of a small figure with a boxy red torso and long blue legs, under a pale sun and two sketched flags, standing over a soft pink grid.

    Artwork 16

    Crayon sketch

    Unsigned

  • Colored pencil portrait of a girl with long purple hair falling over one eye, red lips, a necklace, and a blue top, surrounded by blue scribble patches, yellow sparkles, and a small red heart.

    Artwork 17

    The girl with purple hair

    Unsigned

  • Crayon drawing of two faces: on the left, star-shaped teal eyes with pink eyebrows and an open pink mouth; on the right, a purple-outlined face with dramatic lashes, blushed cheeks, purple lips, and yellow sparkles.

    Artwork 18

    Faces and stars

    Unsigned

  • Crayon drawing on textured paper with diagonal bands of coral red, purple, lilac, and yellow filling the upper corner, the rest of the sheet left white.

    Artwork 19

    Rainbow in the corner

    Unsigned

  • Portrait drawn entirely in pinkish purple colored pencil of a girl with long hair swept to one side, shaded eyes, full lips, and a heart-shaped neckline.

    Artwork 20

    Portrait in purple

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing of five blue clouds dropping columns of rain dashes over a row of small trees with brown trunks and green tops. Signed Danymari's in yellow across the middle.

    Artwork 21

    Rain over the trees

    By Danymari

  • Blue marker drawing of looping scribble clouds with strokes of rain, a scalloped row of bushes with dots along the bottom, and a single salmon pink tree shape in between.

    Artwork 22

    Scribble in blue

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing of a rainbow in red, pink, green, blue, and purple arching between two small blue clouds under a big yellow sun, with a purple daisy on a green stem at the center. Signed Adriany in the top corner.

    Artwork 23

    Rainbow, flower and sun

    By Adriany

  • Marker drawing of a red house with two pointed roofs and barred windows on a teal green lawn, next to a big green tree, a pink flower, a yellow sun, and a sky of blue scribbled clouds.

    Artwork 24

    The red house in the garden

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing of a house with a triangular roof dotted in red, dark red walls, and a pink door, on a bright green lawn with a two-trunked tree, a corner sun, two blue clouds, and rows of tiny black bird-like marks in the sky.

    Artwork 25

    The house with the dotted roof

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing of a lilac house with a wavy-lined roof, purple windows, and a door, with purple hearts and trails of tiny black hearts in the sky, blue clouds, a yellow sun, and a small long-haired girl beside a tree on mint green grass.

    Artwork 26

    House with hearts

    Unsigned

  • Blue and pink marker drawing on paper of a smiling figure with long wavy hair and a slender body that ends in a pink scalloped tail fin, with small pink shell shapes along the middle.

    Artwork 27

    The mermaid

    Unsigned

  • Marker drawing of scribbled color blocks: a row of blue, light blue, gray, green, and red patches along the bottom, a large brown and blue mass with a red rectangle above, and a small yellow scribble in the top corner.

    Artwork 28

    Color blocks

    Unsigned

  • Blue marker drawing of a row of large bubbles, each holding a tiny round-headed figure with dangling limbs, one traced in teal, with strokes of salmon, orange, and magenta floating above like balloons.

    Artwork 29

    Little people in bubbles

    Unsigned

  • Blue marker drawing of four small butterflies with radiating wing strokes flying in a row above a thick band of blue scribble along the bottom of the paper.

    Artwork 30

    Blue butterflies

    Unsigned