Hendrikus Bervoets was born the middle child of a large family in southern Holland. From an early age, he learned to make his own way among the crowd. That impulse led him at the age of 19, to immigrate alone to Canada to fashion a new life and pursue the dream of becoming an artist. He quickly learned the English language, found a job and started making art. From those humble beginnings, he has through the ensuing decades, continued to develop his career as an internationally recognized artist, specializing in collage. His art has been included in many collections throughout the world.
He has continued to produce art until the present. However, in 1995, he chose to develop a consulting company in partnership with Dr. Kees Blonk, an environmental psychologist, that created friendlier, more positive visual environments for institutional facilities, such as hospitals, nursing homes, community centres and government buildings.
Throughout this time he also volunteered. He was President of the Boys and Girls Club of Ontario for six years from 1991 to 1997. He also served on the board of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund from 1997 to 2001.
In 2000, Hendrikus contributed a collage to a portfolio of work by internationally known artists entitled “Africus – The First Johannesburg Biennale”. At the Canadian opening of the exhibit in Lucan Ontario, the High Commissioner of South Africa, Andre Jaquet, discussed both the end of apartheid as well as the overwhelming impact of AIDS in South Africa. In response to that speech, Hendrikus Bervoets co-founded Artists International Direct Support immediately thereafter to assist children affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa through the proceeds of sale of the international portfolio of artwork.
The original focus of the non-profit organization shifted, when Hendrikus was asked in 2003 to conduct art workshops for high school students in London Ontario. Those first workshops were sponsored by the London District Catholic School Board and produced the first Kids for Kids original machine made prints. These prints were signed by the students and donated back to the organization to raise money for projects in sub-Saharan Africa that assist women and children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Since then, he continues to actively direct the evolution of the organization that was renamed Art for AIDS International in 2005. To date, he has conducted workshops in seven countries worldwide: Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. He travels extensively as the spokesperson and teaching agent of Art for AIDS International as it expands its mission globally.
