Heidi Mass visited us last evening from only a couple blocks away to tell us of her quest to rescue animals halfway around the world.
Taking up residence at MeikoBella Studio on Main Street in Menomonee Fall in 2017, Heidi felt she had now made her way as an established studio artist. Heidi is a painter working with oils as well as acrylics.
In 2018, Heidi and her family took a one-month vacation to Australia and were able to get close to many animals in their natural habitats, like kangaroos, wombats and camels.
Heidi heard of the damage the wildfires was doing to the Australian wild animals on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” in 2019 and knew she wanted to help. Heidi turned to art for the answer. She came up with the idea to paint Australian animals and sell them online for $100 each, donating all the proceeds to Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service.
Heidi posted her idea to her site hoping to raise $1,000, but the next day she had orders totaling $7,500! She started out with the typical Australian species like kangaroos, koalas and wombats, but requests came in for all kinds of animals and Heidi responded with “Why not?”
Heidi got to work. Broad brush strokes and bold colors complimented the wild and exotic nature of her outback subject matter. Besides her time and talent, Heidi donated all the materials needed to fulfill her mission.
Heidi’s Art for Australia raised $10,000 for Australian animals that were injured and/or displaced due to the wildfires destroying their habitat.
Since her fundraiser, Heidi has become an avid pet portraitist and continues to strive to have her art make a difference.
