More than 25 Los Angeles-based artists will come together for “Art for Valenzuela,” a benefit exhibition and art sale to raise funds for Hogar Bambi Venezuela, a nonprofit that protects and cares for the country’s vulnerable children.
Since two deadly earthquakes hit northern Venezuela on June 24, killing at least 3,535, artists have been organizing in myriad ways to help an ever-growing humanitarian crisis, said Pasadena artist and event co-organizer Marinés Adrianza, who was born and raised in the South American country.
“Art cannot solve a humanitarian crisis, but it can bring people together and inspire action,” she said. “This benefit is an opportunity for our community to transform empathy into tangible support for children in Venezuela. We hope to create a space of gathering, community and solidarity and I hope it’s just the beginning of an ongoing effort.”
Adrianza said she will donate a large-format painting on canvas, smaller works on paper, and several ceramic pieces.
“Much of my work explores memory, transformation, and the imaginary world of childhood, themes that feel especially meaningful at a moment when so many children and families in Venezuela need support,” Adrianza said. “Many of the memories, landscapes, and characters from my childhood continue to shape my work.” she said.
Although she has lived in Pasadena for more than 20 years, Venezuela has always remained a deep part of who I am,” she added.
Adrianza and her partner BruHa have curated exhibitions since 2020 and founded The Bruhaus in Los Angeles, a community gallery and artist-run space where we support emerging and established artists and create opportunities for people to connect through art.
“As both an artist and a teacher who works with children every day, I think a lot about resilience, imagination, and the importance of creating hope and protecting childhood, especially during difficult times,” Adrianza said.
Helping Hogar Bambi Venezuela provide critical support to children and families affected by the disaster through its longstanding network of care and protection is critical, she said.
“Art for Valenzuela” will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 12, at Birdhouse Estates, at 1512 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles. One hundred percent of proceeds from artwork sales will benefit Hogar Bambi Venezuela’s emergency relief efforts and its ongoing mission to provide shelter, education, healthcare, and comprehensive care for children in vulnerable situations.
Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Venezuelan and Latin American communities in the United States, Adrianza said. Since two temblors hit, many of the them have organized relief efforts, including Amara Barroeta, owner of Amara Café in Pasadena, who raised $5,451 for the nonprofit GlobalGiving within days of the quakes.
As news comes out about deaths and damage, including from Venezuela’s cultural community, artists involved in the exhibition and sale are focusing on the country’s children, as well as their fellow artists, art students, and creatives who lost their homes, studios, libraries, archives, equipment and even years of their work?
Over the past week, Venezuela’s artistic community has become an extraordinary example of mutual aid, Adrianza said. Artists have joined rescue efforts, cultural collectives have transformed WhatsApp groups into emergency support networks, and families and colleagues have organized campaigns to locate missing artists and assist those who have lost everything.
Juan Herrera of Los Angeles is a Venezuelan American artist and educator who studied at California Institute of the Arts and is doing graduate work in Education for Social Change at Cal State Los Angeles.
His work intersects art, education and public responsibility, he said.
Because Cal State L.A. is connected to communities across East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, this benefit feels locally relevant as well as deeply personal. Art for Venezuela shows how cultural communities in Southern California can respond to international grief through collective action.
Herrera’s grief is personal, too. His former classmate Omar Enrique Zambrano, who had been missing since the day of the carthquake, was recently found and did not survive.
“Omar and I both studied at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, often described as ‘La casa que vence la sombra,’ the house that overcomes the shadow. Omar studied psychology and supported many Venezuelans in the diaspora. His family has been connected to mine for many years. His father was once my mother’s partner and business associate, and I remember with great affection the time our families spent together. He believed, as I do, that knowledge and professional work carry a social responsibility.”
“His loss makes this tragedy painfully concrete for me,” Herrera added. “It is no longer only something happening ‘back home.’ It has a name, a face, a history, and a network of people who loved him.”
Participating in this benefit is a way to turn grief into action.
Artist Leonardo Moleiro of Pasadena said images and videos from Venezuela had him unable to sleep and fueled nightmares in the first days after the earthquakes.
“I still have many friends in Venezuela, and I have been staying close to them, and trying to support them,” Moleiro said. “But my efforts from here have not only been focused on friends including families, communities, and animals who have also suffered the consequences of this tragedy.”
Moleiro also runs a nonprofit, “Fundacion Huellas al Corazón” or Footprints in the Heart, which finds homes for abandoned and affected dogs in Venezuela.
For Adrianza, who holds close her memories of how the Pasadena and Altadena communities came together to help one another after the Eaton fire of January 2025, “that same spirit of generosity is what we’re hoping to channel now for the children and families in Venezuela.”
The country will always be home to a part of her, she said.
“Watching everything unfold from afar has brought an overwhelming sense of sadness and helplessness, and we felt we needed to find a way to be there for my home country. Participating in this benefit is one small but meaningful way to turn those feelings into action and to support children and families facing unimaginable challenges.”
Artists cannot solve the scale of this disaster alone, nor with just one exhibition, Herrera added.“But we can use our work, our networks, and our visibility to mobilize care and resources. I hope ‘Art for Venezuela’ inspires other Venezuelan, Venezuelan-American, Latin American, and Los Angeles-area artists to see solidarity not as something separate from our practice, but as part of it.”
“Art for Valenzuela” is set from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 12, at Birdhouse Estates, at 1512 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, visit thebruhaus.art, marinesadrianza.com, or call (213) 448-7760.