A.R. Danziger, Art & Design

  Why are some Celtic crosses surrounded by a ring shape? If you ask this on an internet forum, the stock answer is that it's a leftover from the time of sun worship: some sort of compromise with the pagans. I have even heard it asserted that Celtic crosses existed before Christianity. So, I set out to find whether this was true. Turning to art history and archaeology, I found that there are no carved stone crosses in Ireland or Britain before the 8th century.  The earliest surviving Irish standing high crosses, Pictish stones with crosses and Christian motifs, and the Northumbrian crosses all date to around 800 A.D. This is centuries after the Gospel was first proclaimed in the British Isles, well after the establishment of monasteries, and over 100 years after the Synod of Whitby. The term "sun cross" was coined after World War II and refers to European Bronze Age sun chariot wheels created by sun worshiping cultures. As you can see, these are quite different objects al...

Book of Armagh, Folio 54 [ie 55]r I wonder sometimes how St. Patrick so thoroughly won over the Irish for Christianity during his time.  It was the Holy Spirit of course, because no such thing can be accomplished by advertising or slick social media campaigns, especially not during the 5th century. Were they expecting someone like Patrick to come? In the book of Armagh (7th century) we find a biography of St. Patrick by Muirchu who claims King Loegaire's druids, Lochia and Luchat Mael prophesied: "A Tailcenn* will come over the raging sea, with his perforated garment, his crook-headed staff, With his table at the east end of his house, and all his people will answer 'Amen, Amen.'" *bald-head, referring to the Roman clerical tonsure When St. Patrick and his missionary companions finally landed in Ireland and began their ministry, Loegaire, the High King, summoned all of his chieftains and druids to a great feast on the Hill of Tara. Patrick saw a golden opportu...

Easter greetings, everyone! Here’s a recently finished Celtic knot cross; my latest in a series of Celtic motif paintings. I’ve also just completed a major update to my website. While I love all styles of medieval art from Mozarabic to International Gothic, I’ve changed my quatrefoil logo to a Celtic knot logo to reflect my particular love for the Early Christian Art of the British Isles. I think Celtic knotwork speaks of the eternal—  the underlying harmony and order of the universe necessary for life and beauty to flourish.  I’ve been wanting to write more on the subject, especially in response to some great content on Substack recently, but some technical difficulties kept me from easily sharing my Blogger posts.  That’s solved now, but my domain name “ardanziger.com” redirects here to my old Blogger handle “ionascribe.blogspot.com.”  That seems somehow appropriate these days. I don’t want to jump onto a trendy new platform; I’d prefer my articles remain accessib...

I painted some Celtic style art this past week to place in my neighborhood for my neighbors to find and take home.  I haven't painted in a while, but I felt inspired by some combination of Art and Found Day, my great enthusiasm for St. Patrick's Day, and by the volunteers who have been working hard to clean up trash in my part of the city.  I really wanted to give something back to this community and add to the beauty of it in some small way. It was fun to find places to hide them; especially since I love labyrinths, and we happen to have a couple small ones in the corner of a local park. Whoever found each one, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for being my neighbor!