RTÉ's Cathal Murray to launch Athlone art fair

RTÉ Radio's Cathal Murray will launch Athlone Arts Group's annual art fair this weekend. The fair will start this Sunday, December 16, and will run for three days, with members of the group bringing their labour of love to the public. They have been working hard throughout the year to bring you some very interesting and exciting new art. The launch will take place in the Prince of Wales Hotel on Sunday at 3.30pm to give people a chance to come along when they are doing their Christmas shopping. There will be a glass of wine on offer and some really nice paintings to view. This is an open invitation to all. On show will be paintings in oils, watercolour, acrylic, pastels and mixed media. Apart from landscapes, portraits and so on, there will be encaustic and abstract paintings. The group introduced a new German abstract painter Rita Wobbe to give them workshops, which proved very successful and the result can be seen at the exhibition. There will be up to 100 paintings on show. Broadcaster Cathal Murray will officially launch the fair on Sunday. He is a native of Athlone and is very interested in art, so the group is looking forward to meeting him. This year the group's chosen charity is the Irish Kidney Association, which it is delighted to support. The IKA is fundamental to families who find themselves in a life changing situation, such as kidney failure and need all the support they can get. You will have the opportunity to take a donor card and if you have it to spare, a euro or two would be much appreciated. The group would like to hank the VEC, saying without its generous support the community art group would not be able to keep going. The group also thanked Nuala O'Brien, who was always on hand to help the members out when they needed it. The fair will open on Sunday from 3.30pm until 7pm; on Monday from 10am to 7pm and on Tuesday from 10am to 4pm.