Andre Diaz is a 16-year-old artist who fled Venezuela when he was only 11. He lived in Mexico for a few years before arriving in Victoria, where he now sketches and draws to make money.
Diaz was part of the Arts and Craft Holiday Bazaar: Stitching Bonds, where he drew various caricatures for people.
He was part of a sewing collective to start fighting loneliness alongside Rima Syed Jaafar and Ericka Hidori.
The bazaar took place at the Vancouver Island Counselling Centre (VICCIR) for Immigrants and Refugees from Dec. 9-10.
The group had help from members of the VICCIR staff, who helped set up tables and accepted payment from visitors to the market.
Latifa Elaloui, an interpreter at VICCIR and Soraya Centeno, a staff counsellor, had the most involvement with the group and helped encourage the group to create the market.
Centeno said Stitching Bonds was more successful than the group had initially anticipated, with the small space becoming full on both days.
Diaz contributed his skills to the group by creating embroidery and graphic designs for the women.
The art that Diaz created helped him adjust to his new home in Victoria, but his ultimate goal is to become a fashion designer.
His inspiration can come at any time, and there is no one person he tries to recreate.
“Everything is an original idea,” he said.
He will use different materials to draw, use graphite pencils, and finish with coloured ones, but not always.
“I don’t know, I just use whatever is available,” he said.
Many of Diaz’s drawings and sketches incorporate different imagery. “But it represents like the third eye,” he explained.
Diaz had used all of the painter’s books he had bought for the bazaar but had a fresh one ready to go if he needed one.
READ MORE: ‘Delightful’: Market for lonely Victoria residents strikes a nerve