Celtic art will bring us back to our roots

CELTIC artist Yeshe Spooner hopes her work will help put British people back in touch with their true cultural heritage.

Yeshe, 35, of Timber Way, Chinnor, says: "The Celtic tradition is the root of our culture and has been around for a long, long time. It's completely different to modern art."

Former landscape painter, Yeshe specialised in fine art at Cumbria College of Art and Design. She has been producing Celtic art for 14 years, and is currently exhibiting examples of her work at Wycombe Arts Centre.

Yeshe taught herself the rudiments of this highly stylised art form by studying the Anglo Saxon Lindisfarne Gospels and the Anglo Saxon Book of Kells, which feature highly detailed illustrations of religious stories. The books were produced in AD690 and AD800 and intended for study in monasteries.

In the mid-1980s, Yeshe studied the iconography of the Picts, Norse and Anglo Saxon traditions, alongside Celtic folklore and mythology.

Celtic art boomed during the disintegration of the Roman Empire. Its styles and forms were refined and developed between 400-700 AD, integrating elements of geometry, astronomy and monastic teachings.

The complex interlocking designs; known as knot work; of Celtic art draw on well-established traditions which became standardised and handed-down to successive generations.

In Britain, the sacred religious geometry employed by stonemasons have enriched the Celtic tradition.

Yeshe explains: "The discipline of the geometry is laid down, but it's the way you fill the space that's important. It's not a free-for-all, it's done according to strict principles, and involves the thought processes of problem solving. It's a mental discipline."

Similar traditions of geometric design developed at the same time in other ancient cultures, notably Egypt and Iraq, formerly known as Chaldea.

Yeshe tries to combine the symbolism of sacred geometry across different traditions with the intricacy of Celtic knot work to express spiritual ideas.

In her work Ad Triangulum, Yeshe combines the Hebrew Star of David with designs from the Second School of Masonic Geometry.

Symbolism plays an important role in Celtic art. Yeshe explains: "Shapes are used to represent certain concepts. For example, a square symbolises stability, whereas a circle suggests completion.

"Objects are also significant. For example, the sun represents the life force, the moon intuition, and a chalice is female nurturing."

Producing one of the intricate paintings can take up to 100 hours, and Yeshe normally spreads the work out over the period of a month.

Yeshe says: "You have to be incredibly patient for this kind of work, but you do get really involved in it and you don't notice how long it takes."

Figures feature heavily, and also have a symbolic significance: "There are often angels in my work," Yeshe explains. "These usually represent one of the four great archangels; Gabriel, Uriel, Michael, and Raphael; who are the guardians of the earth."

Two of Yeshe's works are entitled The Angel of Music and The Angel of Wisdom.

In place of the more conventional artist's canvas, Yeshe uses acid-free cotton paper or vellum, made from calf skin. The designs are drawn with an architect's pen and waterproof black ink.

Silver and gold also feature, in leaf or block form. Gold block, which is gold powder mixed with gum arabic, is used for very fine lines. It is applied with a brush in a technique known as water gilding.

Yeshe says Buddhism has been an important influence on her choice of work. She adopted the name Yeshe in a special ceremony in 1985 at the age of 21. Her father was also a Buddhist.

She explains: "Becoming a Buddhist was a big turning point for me. After finishing my foundation art course, I lost my way. It was only by doing something completely different from anything I'd done at art school that I was able to find a direction.

"By looking at a culture as far away as Tibetan Buddhism is from British culture, I was able to bring my sight back to this country."

Yeshe says she now draws her inspiration from the countryside and village scenes around Chinnor, Oxfordshire, where she lives with her husband, Mark, and baby son, Richard. She adds: "I love peoples' gardens, and I love the wild flowers; there are a lot of rare orchids around here."

She also finds inspiration on her travels around South Bucks, and refers to a foggy day in Marlow which added a new colour to her pallet.

Yeshe explains: "Through the fog came a pale sunlight which turned the fog into a light orange tinge. Everything was out of focus. I'll remember that colour and use it in a painting sometime in the future."

In the past, Yeshe has contributed to many exhibitions including the Edinburgh Festival.

Yeshe comments: "People here like my work very much and seem really keen to find out more."

Yeshe Spooner is exhibiting her Celtic Art at the Wycombe Art Centre Pinions Road, High Wycombe until May, telephone (01494) 520817 for opening times

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