Action club/Mystery Masterpieces
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on January 18, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ebonie Boatwright smiles as she paints a canvas during a special populations event organized by area Key Clubs at the Arts Council of Wayne County Saturday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Johnny Martin, 17, uses two paintbrushes at the same time, the larger to paint areas of color and a smaller for details, at a Key Club event at the Arts Council of Wayne County Saturday. He is a member of the Wayne Early Middle College High School Key Club.
Ebonie Boatwright enjoys meeting new people, and when she was painting at the Arts Council of Wayne County Saturday night she did just that.
The area Key Clubs invited the Action Club, whose members are diagnosed with a learning or physical disability, to the Arts Council to paint two canvases, and Ms. Boatwright used that time to slash brilliant blues, greens and pinks on her canvases and offer words of encouragement to her new friends.
"It was good," Ms. Boatwright said.
"It was something that I liked. I like meeting new friends."
The clubs donated one of those canvases back to the Arts Council for the Mystery Masterpieces fundraising event, making it a service project for both.
Morgan Yelverton, 16-year-old Wayne School of Engineering student and Key Club member, said the event offered both clubs the opportunity to give back to the community.
"We had all the Action Club members paint two canvases," Ms. Yelverton said.
"The first was given to the Arts Council for their Mystery Masterpieces event, and the second was just to be creative and take home with them. So they were able to be creative and complete a service project."
Ms. Yelverton said the members of the Action Club are inspiring and getting them involved in the community through service projects and other events is important.
"With working with the Action Club, you see that there is strength in these people," Ms. Yelverton said.
"Working with the Key Club, you get to see that when most high schoolers don't see it. This event was very meaningful and worth it."
Ms. Boatwright's mother, Patricia Banks, said her daughter wants to get out as much as she can.
"She is really a people person, and she loves being out and talking with people," Ms. Banks said.
"She looked forward to it all week."
The pieces of art that the clubs completed will be among the nearly 150 works that will be sold at the Arts Council's Mystery Masterpiece event from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 5.
Ticket-buyers will be given one of the 6-inch-by-6-inch canvases without knowing the identity of the artist and at the end of the night the artist is revealed.
Tickets are $30 for one piece of art or $50 for two and can be purchased by calling the Arts Council at 919-736-3300 or at the Arts Council on John Street.
All proceeds of Mystery Masterpieces will go to the funding of Arts Council events.