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| Stephen Walker addressing the first International day of Celtic Art Conference in Andover, June 2019. Walker has been invited to Ireland to speak at the second Conference, to be held at the Saint Patrick Centre in County Down. |
Second Celtic Artist’s Conference dedicated to Scotty MacCrea
March is Irish American Heritage Month. Just as the
celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland has been very much shaped by how
Irish immigrants and their descendants have observed this day in America,
Celtic artists, scholars and art historians in Ireland have begun to appreciate
how Celtic artists practicing outside of Ireland are contributing to this
beautiful and mysterious art form.
Stephen Walker, master jeweler at Walker Metalsmiths, will
be travelling to Ireland this spring to lecture on Celtic art and symbolism. He
comments on this upcoming adventure, “I am thrilled that the next chapter of
something we started here in Andover will be written in Ireland. It is
especially touching that my mentor Scotty MacCrea will be posthumously honored
for his contribution to Celtic art. “
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William “Scotty” MacCrea speaking at the first International
day of Celtic Art Conference in 2019. MacCrea passed away in October. The
second Celtic Art Conference, to be held in Ireland, will be dedicated to his
memory. Photo by Nick Davis.
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The Second International Day of Celtic Art Conference has
been announced in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland to be held from June 4 to 7,
2020 at the Saint Patrick Centre. The conference will be dedicated to the
memory of William “Scotty” MacCrea of Alfred, NY. MacCrea, artist and art
teacher, gave a stirring talk at the first IDCA Conference in Andover, last
spring. He passed away October 19, 2019 at age 87. A video of this presentation
will be shown as part of the program in Downpatrick.
The Saint Patrick Centre, in Downpatrick Northern Ireland,
is home to the world’s only permanent exhibit dedicated to Ireland’s Patron
Saint. Much of Patrick’s mission to bring the Christian Gospel to Ireland
radiated from his establishment in the northeast of Ireland near the Irish Sea.
Legend has it that the grave of the Saint is in the graveyard of Down
Cathedral, once an Early Christian monastery, whose inner and outer boundaries
were marked by two granite high crosses in the 8th and 10th centuries. A
presentation of the conservation of the 8th-century St Patrick's Cross and the
creation of a replica to replace the shattered fragments of the original, was
given in Andover by Heritage Manager for Newry, Mourne and Down District
Council, Mike King. King was also responsible for bringing the 10th-century
Celtic cross into Down County Museum, where he was formerly Curator, and
replacing it with an exact replica. He is organizing the conference this June
with Director of the St Patrick Centre, Tim Campbell.
Of the dozen lectures presented during the conference, five
will be given by Celtic artists who live in the United States or Canada. Walker, master jeweler at Walker Metalsmiths
in Andover, will give a presentation titled the Modern Folklore of Celtic Art.
Walker, who was one of MacCrea’s students when he taught art at Andover Central
School, will explain how the medieval style of highly complex interlace pattern
and symbols came to be used as emblematic of ethnic and national pride by the
Irish, Scots and their descendants in the New World.
More information on the Second International Day of Celtic
Art and registration details can be found at https://www.celticartday.com/2020-conference.
MacCrea’s students when he taught art at
Andover Central School, will explain how the medieval style of highly complex
interlace pattern and symbols came to be used as emblematic of ethnic and
national pride by the Irish, Scots and their descendants in the New World.
