The essential sourcebook on Celtic art

Welsh artist Jen Delyth is one of the most highly respected contemporary Celtic artists in the world. Her debut book, Celtic Folk-Soul, illuminates the beauty, power and spirit of nature expressed through the ancient language of Celtic art and symbol: the voice of the Folk-Soul. This beautiful book is rich with Delyth's stunning artwork and is structured around a symbolic nine-chapter motif. From Roots/Elements to Stone/Mysteries to Beyond the Ninth Wave, Delyth pairs insightful explanations with her radiant artwork, Celtic myth and poetry revealing to us background, meaning and depth to the theme of each section. Celtic Folk-Soul takes us on a journey of discovery into the many aspects of Celtic myth and symbolism. This is an ancient thread which weaves back through the art, myth and poetry and connects us to a complex mysticism that expresses the interconnection and balance of all things.

This unique volume clearly demonstrates simple geometric techniques for making intricate knots, interlacements, spirals, Kellstype initials, human and animal figures in distinctive Celtic style. Features over 500 illustrations.

Intriguing archive of 96 black-and-white designs features the sinuous interlacements, stylized mythical creatures, abstracts, geometrics, and other elements that give Celtic art its unique distinction. Clear, crisp, professionally drawn motifs will lend themselves to a host of art and craft purposes. Included disc contains all designs in book.

'Early Celtic art' - typified by the iconic shields, swords, torcs and chariot gear we can see in places such as the British Museum - has been studied in isolation from the rest of the evidence from the Iron Age. This book reintegrates the art with the archaeology, placing the finds in the context of our latest ideas about Iron Age and Romano-British society. The contributions move beyond the traditional concerns with artistic styles and continental links, to consider the material nature of objects, their social effects and their role in practices such as exchange and burial. The aesthetic impact of decorated metalwork, metal composition and manufacturing, dating and regional differences within Britain all receive coverage. The book gives us a new understanding of some of the most ornate and complex objects ever found in Britain, artefacts that condense and embody many histories.

Classic of scholarly research explores origins of Celtic art in Britain, Ireland, and Europe. Illustrated with 44 plates of photographs and line drawings of artifacts from a variety of sites, this study traces Celtic art in the Bronze and early Iron Ages, as well as Celtic art of the Christian period.