Conscious Party Web Extra: Art for Antonio

What: Art for Antonio, a fundraiser to help 14-year-old Antonio go to an all-boys Catholic boarding school.

Where: 71 Starnes Ave., in downtown Asheville.

When: Thursday, March 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. (Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Cash or check only. Info: http://bit.ly/hqDGb8).

Why: The art party and fundraiser will feature hor d’oeuvres, a wine tasting and an art auction including marionettes by Simone Wilson, a colorful and abstract painting by Molly Sieburg Courcelle, photography by Meg Reilley and paintings by Genie Maples and Cheri Brackett.

Proceeds from the auction will be divided between the artists and Antonio’s boarding school expense fund. As event organizer and “free-range mentor” Alisa Carswell writes in an email to the Xpress, “Me and my partner, Meg, mentor an amazing 14-year-old fellow, who we are trying desperately to get into boarding school next fall. We have worked with Antonio for almost four years now. Antonio has been growing up in Lee Walker Heights and Hill Crest. His father was killed in Lee Walker when Antonio was in the third grade. He has an amazing spirit and has made some amazing changes since we have been working with him. We don’t mentor through any program. We are free-range mentors.”

According to Carswell, Antonio is a highly motivated individual whose “number one goal is to go to college and graduate.” She continues, “The best chance [to achieve this goal is for Antonio to] go to a college preparatory school. A Catholic, all-boys school [would offer] a spiritual and faith-based environment [with] no distraction from learning.”

Don’t miss this art party and fundraiser, which, as Carswell continues, is “your chance to make a huge difference in the life of one child.”

To learn more about Art for Antonio, click here.

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About Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt
Aiyanna grew up on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. She was educated at The Cambridge School of Weston, Sarah Lawrence College, and Oxford University. Aiyanna lives in Asheville, North Carolina where she proudly works for Mountain Xpress, the city’s independent local newspaper.

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