Magnus Barelegs Viking Festival 2009 - Auction

 

NEW DATE: Many great items at Auction!

The Magnus Barelegs Festival receives generous support from Down District Council, however, we still have to raise considerable funds to run the festival to professional standards and to keep expanding the festival. We do this in a number of ways, one of which is our auction.

The Auction will take place after the curry night at the Dufferin Coaching Inn, Killyleagh on Friday 23rd October 2009 at 21:30. However, you can make a bid even if you can't be there!

To bid on the items below send an e-mail to killyboat@focused.ie marked bid and then the detail of what you want to bid on.  In the body of the e-mail please insert the amount of your bid and your contact details, including a phone number, of how we contact you.  Bids are not accepted until they have been confirmed.  The first bid at a price is the one accepted. If you don’t have e-mail call 4482 8461 during office hours.

This year due to the generosity of our sponsors we are able to offer the following auction items:

Oil Painting by Leo Casement   We are thrilled to be able to offer one of Leo's fabulous racing paintings as one of our auction items!   (R) reserve
Original Oil Painting by Alan Quigley "Magnus Slain"
Limited Edition Print by Jessica Levy - "Home Leave" 1/6 size 35" (92cm) x 31" (80cm)
Framed Original Watercolour by Wendy Cromie
Framed Original Watercolour by Wendy Cromie
Signed Northern Ireland Football shirt
Wooden Sculpture - Totem
Wooden Sculpture - Reminiscent of Easter Island
Cricket Bat signed by Ireland & South African Teams 2008
Hand Crafted Walking Sticks
Digital Camera Polaroid 7.0MP with 2.5" LCD Display
Hand Crafted Viking Shield
Guided Tour of Stormont & Lunch with David McNarry

Keep checking back for updates!

Leo Casement

Leo started painting at an early age and excelled at art during his school days, even selling paintings while he was still at school. After leaving school he went to Dublin to paint portraits and street scenes for a living. He then moved to London and continued to paint, financing his stay with various part-time jobs. His first love however, was always art.

He then lived in France for a time before returning home to Ireland. He had his first exhibition in Northern Ireland in 1977 in Downpatrick. It was very successful with commissions to follow, but he soon left again for France, travelling through Normandy and continuing to paint. He tried a spell in Paris, but found the lifestyle too chaotic, so he returned to the countryside where he could concentrate on his work with little distraction.

Leo travelled throughout Europe and ended up in Spain moving from town to town, meeting fellow artists, sculptors and writers. He then settled in Marbella for a time before returning to Northern Ireland in the early 1990's. By this time his reputation was established and he was in constant demand for commissions. He had a number of successful exhibitions leading to numerous prizes in competitions for his horse paintings.

Leo's work, with its distinctive and individual style, is becoming increasingly collectable and is popular with collectors throughout Northern Ireland and beyond.

Alan Quigley

Alan Quigley was born in Drumbeg on the outskirts of Belfast in 1950. At primary school his artistic ability soon came to the fore and on leaving school he trained as a picture framer concentrating on restoration of damaged paintings. After a few months in London at Hammer Studios training as a make-up artist he returned to NI and being an accomplished musician he played guitar with many of the top show bands in the mid 60's and early 70's.

While he continued to paint and develop his style during these years, but had no formal training, it was not until a chance meeting with the late and renowned Irish artist, Dan O'Neill in Belfast, that he began to take art seriously.  Dan encouraged and influenced him to develop his own individual and varied techniques.  It was shortly after Dan's untimely death in 1974 that Alan decided to concentrate on art.  His first exhibition included scenes from his local area from which he drew inspiration; all of which he interpreted in his own unique style.

In the years that followed he had many commissions from hotels, nightclubs and restaurants.  One of his murals was a joint venture with the sculptor Tim Shaw from Cornwall whose work adorns a large area of the Eden Project.  He also painted and became friends with a number of celebrities including Ian Botham, Chris Rea, Steve Davis, Alex Higgins and Denis Taylor.

During the 1980's he began to produce his first paintings of nostalgic Irish life using wax crayon and watercolour.  Many private and commercial commissions followed.  However about 5 years ago after agonising over what direction he wanted to go in, he began to experiment with acrylics using the style Dan O'Neill had taught him over 30 years before.

Within the last two to three years he has begun to feel that he has mastered, to some degree, this very individual style.  His paintings (long necks) captivate Ireland's romantic past with its characters and landscape beautifully portrayed in vibrant colours.