Friday, 20 April 2012

Archibald Knox - modern-day Manannan

THE island needs to get out and sell its cultural strong points to attract tourists.

That’s the view of Liam O’Neill, founder and chairman of the Archibald Knox Society, who is set to host a study tour for Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society (CRMS) enthusiasts this weekend.

He believes it’s a good start for cultural tourism.

‘When I set up the Archibald Knox Society I modelled it on the CRMS,’ said Mr O’Neill.

‘I have built up a very good relationship over the years with them and one of the first visits by us was to Glasgow [where the CRMS is based]. Over the years I have been encouraging them to visit the Isle of Man and now they have decided to do this.’

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Mr O’Neill said 29 people would be taking part in the study tour, which begins today and will end on Monday, April 23.

The tour will include a visit to Cronkbourne Village, Tromode, birthplace of Archibald Knox; access to the Knox archive at the Manx Museum in Douglas, which includes Knox’s stunning silverware and watercolours; and a trip to the ancient monastic site of Maughold to view the ancient Manx crosses and the Hall Caine memorial, which was the last monument designed by Knox.

The weekend will also include a tour of the work of H.M. Baillie Scott.

Peter Kelly, an architectural historian and leading light in the Isle of Man Victorian Society, will talk about Baillie Scott and conduct a tour of Baillie Scott buildings. Mr O’Neill will deliver a lecture on the life and work of Archibald Knox.

There will also be an opportunity to view the work of the renowned Manx artist J.M. Nicholson and the Irish stained glass genius Harry Clarke.

And there will be a gala dinner at which Rushen MHK Laurence Skelly, a member of the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure, will speak about cultural tourism.

‘From the point of view of their [the CRMS’s] interest in Knox, it really is setting him in context by bringing them to the Isle of Man,’ said Mr O’Neill.

‘Auction houses often say nothing else about his island links other than that he was born in, or was from, the Isle of Man. They never make reference to the enormous influence the Isle of Man had on his work. The Isle of Man played such an important role.

‘This is the first of many such visits, we hope. I think it’s an ideal way of selling what we have got here in the Isle of Man internationally,’ said Mr O’Neill.

One of the delegates on this month’s study tour is coming over from New York after hearing Mr O’Neill speak on a recent lecture tour of the US.

‘I am trying to get the Department for Economic Development more interested in being proactive,’ he said.

‘We can’t sit here and wait for people to come, we have got to get out there and sell it. This is a big opportunity to do that. I think the present government is aware of the importance of it and of finding new niches.

‘I think Archibald Knox has really never been promoted to the full extent. We don’t actually market Knox, I think, and he and the Isle of Man are synonymous. He’s like a modern-day Manannan representing the island. It’s impossible to speak, in my opinion, of one without the other.’

For more information, visit www.archibaldknoxsociety.com.

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