Attention Pearson grads: a happy-wall fundraiser

This announcement’s for you supporters of Pearson United World College: it’s a fundraiser for scholarships that also gives you an original painting by Theo Dombrowski on your wall. Not bad, right? For the month of August 2025, reunion month at the college, Theo will donate all you spend on paintings sold through his website to the college’s scholarship fund.

So…how?

  • First, see if there’s a painting you want. The prices are marked. https://theodombrowski.net
  • Then contact Theo (dtheoquayle4@gmail.com) to make sure it’s still available, confirm the price, and together figure out the best way of getting it to you.
  • Next, donate the cost of the painting directly to Pearson College for the scholarship fund (Canadians get tax receipts), confirm your donation with Theo, and reimburse him for what you both figure the postage will cost.
  • Last, receive your painting — and hang it somewhere nice!

If you check out Theo’s website more fully, you’ll find lots you recognize in how Pearson people try to help, in ways they can. When they retired from Pearson, he and Eileen considered international volunteer work as a way to “give back” — but it quickly hit them that the world wasn’t exactly panting for their involvement. “Who needs to know about symbolism in Hamlet in a country that doesn’t have clean water?” (Sigh. Could apply to Canada, right?)

Instead, Theo’s choice has been to write outdoor guidebooks (nine of them!!!) and paint, donating the royalties and sales to causes he supports, from home . He gives mainly to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), but for the reunion month of August, he’ll donate all to Pearson College. And if you choose one of his paintings, so will you.

“For charity and purpose”

“Funky animals” and portraits: journalist Jessica Durling of the Nanaimo News Bulletin clearly understood Theo’s diverse paintings styles and the motivations behind his artwork. Interviewing him in his own home last week, she drew out his ideas on favourite art forms and his reasons for donating all his profits to charity, primarily to Doctors without Borders. In an article leading the Arts section, Durling then introduced Theo to the audience of greater Nanaimo.

Theo Dombrowski with his musk ox painting. He originally wanted to paint scarves on the animals.

For the article, including several photos Durling took on site, see:

https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/news/from-portraits-to-funky-animals-nanoose-bay-artist-paints-for-charity-and-purpose-7373453

Devastating Earthquake in Türkiye and Syria: selling paintings for disaster relief

The human suffering in Türkiye and Syria is overwhelming. Like so many others, artist Theo Dombrowski wants to help — somehow! For the months of February and March, he will donate all funds raised by selling paintings through this website to the Canadian Red Cross for disaster relief.

Could a gouache painting of a peaceful local landscape or a playful watercolour of a joyful dance contribute, indirectly, to helping people whose lives are so far from peace and joy? Every little bit helps.

Hopping to it! Froggies for funds!

The paint’s barely dry on Theo’s latest painting. Will these guys make a splash? They’re hoping — no, hopping — to rescue a young Syrian refugee by helping to raise her sponsorship fee. Yes, she’s the sister of a Pearson grad (Tam from year 44, 2019), the one we’ve told you about already. All profits from any of his paintings sold through Theo’s website will go to this fundraising drive right up to Tam’s deadline, just over two weeks away.

New paintings, urgent cause: to bring a refugee Syrian woman to safety

Free-diving sealions, questioning jays, and cantering ostriches have little in common. They have even less in common with the danger in which a young woman finds herself as a Syrian refugee in Lebanon. However, Theo Dombrowski’s November fundraiser brings these all together. All profits from these new paintings — and any others on his website sold during November — will be donated to Tam Jundi’s campaign to rescue his youngest sister and include her in the sponsorship of the rest of their family (https://savemysister.ca/).


Theo paints for Nature Trust, nature conservation

Anyone familiar with the achievements of the Nature Trust in preserving precious ecosystems in BC will understand instantly why Theo Dombrowski supports them. And anyone who knows Theo will recognize one of his means of support: he paints landscapes for them on request, often views of the very land subject to a campaign for preservation. Today the Nature Trust launches its fall online auction including Theo’s painting “Coast Range”. Have a look at its auction!

This year he has also donated a painting specifically of the Englishman River estuary, commissioned by the Nature Trust to give as a thank you gift to a major donor who helped with preservation of environmentally significant land.

The present Nature Trust fundraiser is the most recent among several by truly worthy organizations to request a painting from Theo in support of their goals.

Emerging child: Can this portrait help (a tiny little bit) to rescue a family from Afghanistan?

For the month of May, the proceeds from every painting bought from Theo Dombrowski’s website will go toward Save Saima’s Family, an urgent fundraising campaign to sponsor the family of a recent Pearson United World College graduate to come to safety in Canada. They are in grave danger: they have been particularly targeted by the Taliban for their activism on human rights and the education of girls. Today this portrait of a child will join other portraits, landscapes, abstracts, and fantasy pieces on Theo’s website.

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Art for Rescue: sales to help save Afghan family

For the month of May, proceeds from any of Theo Dombrowski’s artwork sold through this website will be donated to an urgent campaign, to help rescue the family of a recent Pearson College graduate from extreme danger. Members of the Hazara minority, the parents have been specifically targeted by the Taliban for their support for human rights and the education of girls. They have four children in hiding with them in Pakistan. The campaign aims to raise the funds necessary to sponsor them to come to Canada.

To learn more about the family, the campaign, and the steps toward donation, see: Save Saima’s Family.