Andover Artisan contributes to Scottish Book
Stephen Walker supplies photos and references to book on Celtic Art of Iona
A local artisan, Stephen Walker, has contributed to a book about the modern history of Celtic jewelry design, recently published in Scotland. The book, Iona Celtic Art by E. Mairi MacArthur, tells the story of Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie, who established a jewelry and metalsmithing workshop on the legendary Isle of Iona in Scotland in 1899 and produced a wide variety of art objects until their deaths in 1941.
The medieval Celtic monuments of the island, off the west coast of Scotland, were the design inspiration for the Ritchie’s work, yet much of what they made had a look very much like the Art Nouveau style that was very much in fashion during their time. Stephen Walker was influenced in his own Celtic design jewelry and metalwork by these same sources, having visited Iona for the first time in 1975 and returning several times since.
Walker says, “ As I learned about the Ritchie’s work and began to collect it, I also began to realize the extent to which most Celtic jewelry made in the second half of the 20th century owes as much to the Ritchie’s interpretation of the designs as it does to the original medieval sources. Dr. MacArthur was focusing on the life of the couple and their art as a local story about Iona. My main contribution to the effort was an account of the craftsmen that followed Ritchie and how his legacy lives on through the work of succeeding generations. I also contributed several photographs from my collection and some technical details about how his work would have been crafted. ”
The book is illustrated with 85 color and 75 black and white photos. Published by The New Iona Press, the book is available locally from Walker Metalsmiths