Walker Metalsmiths Iona Celtic Arts A modern company revives an ancient art By Stephen Walker Walker Metalsmiths is a craftsman-run workshop specializing in authentic handmade Celtic rings and Celtic design jewelry in silver, gold, platinum, mokume (a type of laminate) and mixed-metal designs. Our workshop and gallery is located in the Village of Andover in rural Allegany County of Western New York State. We sell our own work as well as the creations of many of the best Celtic designers and jewelers from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Originality of design Celtic designs have an ancient heritage, but most of the designs on this site are original or old designs re-worked for contemporary artistic use. Because Celtic Art often is used to make a link to the distant past, it is often mistakenly believed that genuine designs can only be copied from antiquity. This is unfortunate because artistic integrity demands that the designer create a new manifestation of the art, unique to present times. Large Celtic Pectoral Crosses As a living art form, Celtic Art can only be sustained by pursuing the goal of mastery of the creative process that ultimately results in new and imaginative work. The Celtic jewelry and artwork shown here is not an imitation of historical Celtic Art but rather an affirmation that new and original creations are authentic continuations of that artistic heritage. __________________________ Celtic designs have an ancient heritage. __________________________ The work illustrated on these pages represents the creative effort of Stephen Walker and various other craftsmen and designers. With the exception of several of the simplest knots, none of these designs should be considered public domain. It is commonly and wrongly supposed that all Celtic designs are ancient and therefore free from copyright restrictions. The truth is that new, traditionally correct designs often look as if they could be very old, but they are nonetheless the intellectual property of the artist. Isle of Iona The Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland was the spiritual center of the Celtic world from the sixth to eighth century. Wonderful carved stone monuments, crosses and illuminated books were created there in the Golden Age of Celtic Art. Iona remains an important cultural and religious focal point in modern times. Geologically Iona is a marvel. It is formed by some of the oldest rock in the world, so old that there are no fossils. The green and salmon-colored Lewisian gneiss we call Iona bloodstone is an excellent material for making jewelry. Green serpentine marble from Iona is also used as a jewelry stone. It is a traditional charm against drowning and the evil eye. The translucent green of the marble is known as Iona greenstone or St. Columba's tears. These stones have been collected by the Walkers on several pilgrimages to Iona and are cut and polished in their workshop in the US. Any of the jewelry designs shown here are available in either marble or bloodstone. These are natural materials, and each piece is unique as far as color and figure. Knotwork History & Symbolism Celtic knots or Celtic interlace are ornamental patterns that first became associated with Celtic people in the early Celtic Church, when they were used to decorate Bible manuscripts, monuments (notably Celtic crosses and cross slabs) and jewelry. They probably were used in other material such as wood carvings and textiles, but these have not survived. Knotwork tradition in manuscript painting possibly came to Ireland in the middle of the seventh century in manuscripts illuminated by Coptic monks from Egypt or Syria. This is not a settled issue as far as art historians are concerned, but the best evidence of style, coloring and methods of construction I have seen points to Middle Eastern prototypes. From Ireland the style spread to Scotland (in those days Pictland and Dalriada), Wales and Northumbria and, with missionaries of the Celtic Church, to mainland Europe. Viking raiders later appropriated some of the design concepts into a more chaotic style of animal interlace. __________________________ A good Celtic Artist will never leave a loose end on a strand unless it is stylized into a zoomorphic element or spiral. __________________________ Celtic knots are complete loops with no beginning or end. Celtic animal interlace is similar in construction, but the cords terminate in feet, heads, tails and so on. The animal designs are very much influenced by older Saxon and Pictish traditions of abstract beast forms that when combined with the new more sophisticated knotwork of the Celtic designers became known as “Hiberno-Saxon.” A good Celtic Artist will never leave a loose end on a strand unless it is stylized into a zoomorphic element or spiral. Pure knots should always be unending. On this point of ornamental grammar you can distinguish much that is made to look like Celtic design by designers who do not really know the tradition. The Coptic examples of knotwork that pre-date the early Irish work are consistent this way while the Roman and Germanic examples of knotwork that sometimes are cited as possible sources often have loose ends. The way that ribbons are colored in some of the early Irish work, particularly the Book of Durrow, is the same as the Coptic preference, with parallel evolution in Moorish design. The Book of Kells is the best known source of Celtic knots as well as other types of Celtic ornament. The Book of Kells is a fantastic collection of paintings that illuminate the four Gospels in Latin, penned circa 800 AD. The incredible degree of ornament and detail caused Giraldus Cambrensis in the thirteenth century to call it "the work not of men, but of angels," or as author Umberto Eco wrote in 1990, "the product of a cold-blooded hallucination." In recent years Celtic knots have enjoyed a revival. However, far too much of this has amounted to copies of historical knots used in tourist-type craft goods. Fortunately there are a few artists who take the subject more seriously and are creating new and exciting knots, including Patrick Gallagher at www.celtart.com and Michael Carroll at www.mccelticdesign.com. Alexander Ritchie made quite a lot of good silver jewelry incorporating knotwork on the Isle of Iona from 1899 until his death in 1941. George Bain wrote an excellent book entitled Celtic Art: The Methods Of Construction that is great for anyone serious about learning how to create new knots in the Celtic tradition. Bain's book was first published in 1951 but appeared as a series of booklets before that. Aidan Meehan has a series on Celtic design with an entire volume called Knotwork. As for symbolism, knotwork designs are emblematic in modern times of the Celtic nationalities. The symbolism that has come down through the ages is as obscure and indirect as much of the speech and literature of the Celtic people. How then can we understand it? If that which is not prose must be poetry, knotwork's meaning defies literal translation and should be sought at a deeper level. The repeated crossings of the physical and the spiritual are expressed in the interlace of the knots. The never-ending path of the strand represents the permanence and the continuum of life, love and faith. Iona Celtic Arts The Celtic jewelry of today has blossomed within living memory. The nineteenth-century Celtic Revival jewelry of Ireland consisted mainly of copies of medieval brooches.  Alexander Ritchie, born in 1856, could be considered the father of twentieth-century Celtic Jewelry. A native of Scotland’s Isle of Mull, Ritchie first came to Iona as a boy in 1868 when his parents took over the St. Columba Hotel. As a young man he went to sea and returned to Iona in the 1890s. In 1899 or 1900 he and his wife Euphemia Thomson began a workshop called Iona Celtic Art in the ruins of the old nunnery. __________________________ The never-ending path of the strand represents the permanence and the continuum of life, love and faith. __________________________ A popular saying, often attributed to St. Columba, predicts, "Ere the world shall come to an end, Iona shall be as it was." Iona is rich in monuments of Celtic Art, and the monastery that flourished there before the Viking raids of the ninth century produced magnificent manuscript illuminations. Perhaps even the Book of Kells was produced on Iona. After the Reformation the ecclesiastical buildings on Iona fell into ruin. The island became obscure and impoverished. The Ritchies were among the early revivalists who helped rekindle the fire of Celtic Art, appropriately lighting their spark on Iona. They based their designs on the art of the monuments and ruins of the abbey, recapturing the artistic tradition that had flourished there from the early years of the Celtic Church. The Ritchies helped bring Celtic Art into the contemporary mainstream. Winter courses in arts and crafts at the Glasgow School of Art combined with a willingness to employ modern methods of creating multiples resulted in Celtic silver jewelry that reached a wide audience. Jewelry manufacturers and individual craftsman who followed owe a great deal to the Ritchies for establishing a modern tradition of affordable jewelry rooted in authentic Celtic design. Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie died within two days of each other and were buried together on Iona in January 1941. After World War II new craftsmen succeeded them, and much of the Celtic jewelry made in Scotland in the 1940s looks very much like that of the Ritchies. The reproductions offered here are produced by several workshops.  Mhairi Killin of Mhiann Arts on Iona supplies the Pennanular Brooch and the small St. Martin's Cross. Mhairi is a cousin of Ritchie's apprentice Iain MacCormick, who carried on Iona Celtic Art in the 1940s.  Angus Milne, who supplies the Iona medal, lives on nearby Mull.  The large crosses and Iona brooch are reproduced by Walker Metalsmiths from Ritchie originals. Mull Silver and Kells Gold and Silver, both located on Mull, also reproduce Ritchie jewelry. __________________________ Celtic Art Industries did much to establish the standards of quality and design that are now associated with Scottish jewelry. __________________________ The association of Iona with Celtic jewelry and the Iona Celtic Art style were very influential in postwar Celtic jewelry manufacture in Scotland in both style and marketing. Iain MacCormick was hired by Celtic Art Industries in Glasgow as one of their original craftsmen after the war and worked there for eight years before leaving the company to teach art. The founder of Celtic Art Industries, Hamish Dawson-Bowman, owned the Isle of Erraid only two miles from Iona and would have his craftsmen visit the island for inspiration. The romantic association with the Isles was used to promote the authenticity of the product to customers as well. Celtic Art Industries did much to establish the standards of quality and design that are now associated with Scottish jewelry. Later renamed Celtic Art Ltd., the company continues to produce excellent work, including some designs from Ritchie patterns, and is now located in East Kilbride. John Hart was another craftsman working for Celtic Art Industries early on who had a tremendous impact on twentieth-century Celtic jewelry.  Many pieces of jewelry bear the marks "Iona" and a monogram of "J.H." These were made by John Hart for the Iona Shop. After leaving Celtic Art Industries, Hart worked on his own, with much of his work supplying the Iona Shop, which had outlets in Oban and Glasgow. The Iona Shop in Oban continues in business, still run by the third generation of the Cathro family. It is the oldest and one of the finest shops specializing in Celtic jewelry in Scotland.  Ritchie designs are now being manufactured by the Iona Shop.  John Hart's designs are still being made by his son, also named John Hart, who moved the business to South Uist in the Outer Hebrides and calls his business Hebridean Jewelry. Jewelry made by Hebridean Jewelry is now marked "H. J." Several Ritchie designs survive in the Hebridean Jewelry range. Original pieces by Iona Celtic Art are very sought after. They are marked "A.R.," "A&ER," "ICA" and usually "IONA" as well. Pieces marked "sterling" and/or "Scotland" were imported to the US and Canada. Royal Mile Curios on High Street, Edinburgh carries the best selection of original Ritchie jewelry as well as some of the best antique Scottish jewelry available anywhere. A new book Iona Celtic Art: The Work of Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie by E. Mairi MacArthur, The New Iona Press, 2003 is available from Walker Metalsmiths for $21.95. Click on the title for details. Dr. E. Mairi MacArthur's book Columba's Island: Iona from Past to Present is another good read. It covers the careers of the Ritchies as well as the story of Iona, as the title says, from past to present. About Stephen Walker There has been a continuum - and also an evolution - of Scottish and Irish knotwork for centuries. Beyond merely copying ancient Celtic Art, Stephen Walker's craft is a manifestation of deep feeling, creativity and technical skill applied to the art of his forbears. Stephen was born to second- and third-generation Scottish Americans. His mother's father, William Watt, and his father's grandfather, John Walker, both came from Aberdeenshire, a part of Scotland rich in Celtic Art of the Pictish school. They settled in New York State and Vermont respectively near the turn of the century. Other parts of the family were Irish and Yankee. Grandpa Watt was active in the Order of Scottish Clans Lodge in Syracuse, New York. Stephen's mother Barbara was pipe major in one of the first female pipe bands in the world, the Glengarry Girls, in the early 1950s in Syracuse. The band broke up when the girls started having families, which is where Stephen entered in 1957. __________________________ The fantastic interlaces and spirals fascinated him and he immediately tried to draw designs in that style. __________________________ In 1968 Grandma Walker, herself of Irish extraction, visited Ireland, and when she returned she brought Stephen a small book about the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. He had been around Scottish regalia of the typical Victorian Pipeband motifs all his eleven years, but the fantastic interlaces and spirals fascinated him and he immediately tried to draw designs in that style. Within a year the family moved to Andover, New York, where the school's art teacher turned out to be an accomplished practitioner of Celtic-style calligraphy and sculpture. William "Scotty" MacCrea was also a piper. Stephen joined a circle of his friends and students who shared his enthusiasm for Celtic culture. A pipe band flourished at the time he was a teen. He still plays. Stephen pursued a career in the arts as a metalsmith/jewelry craftsman. For years most of his work was very contemporary in style, but he often turned to his Celtic heritage for inspiration and in recent years does many designs that are very traditional. Stephen is married to a beautiful redhead of Irish and Nova Scotia Scots background. Susan is a mathematician. He claims her specialty is multiplying, as they have six children, Andrew, Jeanne, Margaret, Donald, William and Baby Stephen. This website: Copyright © 2007 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. 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