Flatley finds his feet as artist

The first sale of art work by the ‘Lord of the Dance’ star was the top seller at an auction to raise funds for Christ Church Cathedral

WORSHIPPERS at Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral this Christmas might want to give thanks for the success of last week’s charity auction held to raise funds for restoration work on the building.

Artists, businesses and private individuals donated more than 700 lots of art and antiques for the sale at Sheppard’s Irish Auction House in Durrow, Co Laois on Friday, December 16th.

The auction raised €120,395 for the cathedral fund. A packed saleroom was complemented by telephone and internet bidders. With no reserves and no fees, there were bargains with most lots selling for below their lower estimates.

Examples included an Irish Edwardian period mahogany writing bureau, estimated at €600-€900, which sold for €380 while a set of 18th century ornithological engravings went for just €70 (€200-€300).

Two lots, a pedigree greyhound and a day’s deer-shoot on a Wicklow estate, were withdrawn because of what the auctioneers described as “threatening emails” – many sent from overseas – from animal rights protesters.

The top prices were achieved for paintings. An oil-on-board titled Awaiting Friends, evoking the spirit of a Christmas dining room, specially painted by Mark O'Neill for the auction, made €3,800 (€5,000-€7,000).

But the highest price was achieved with the first sale of a painting by dancer Michael Flatley which made €5,600 (€3,000-€5,000). The painting, titled I, was created by the original star of Riverdancetap dancing on a canvas.

Speaking after the auction, Mr Flatley confirmed he has taken up art and said: “I absolutely love painting” which, he said, helped him to “release energy” and to “channel my creativity”.

He admitted to being nervous about the auction and how the public would react to his art.

But he had been reassured by the positive reaction to a photograph of the painting which appeared in The Irish Timeslast month and had received "calls from LA, Germany and Australia". He had "mixed emotions about letting it go" but was "delighted to help Christ Church Cathedral".

Mr Flatley was “very encouraged by this first sale” and revealed he has created a number of other paintings – also using his feet – but has yet to decide when or where to exhibit or sell further examples of his art. Mr Flatley, who lives in the Castle Hyde estate in Co Cork, celebrated his first art sale “with a little Midleton Reserve” whiskey.

The dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Rev Dermot Dunne, said he was “really thrilled that Michael Flatley was so generous” and thought that the painting with its “vivid cardinal red” was “a fabulous piece”.