Biography and vision

The Celtic artist Jeff Fitzpatrick Adams was born in Belfast in the early seventies. He grew up in a community divided, during the worst of the troubles; remembering the dawn of youth like a prisoner, who recalls the bars and shackles of his jail. A place that one loses, happiness, grows indifferent, and forgets to laugh and smile. The artist at age nine was introduced to that great golden glory, the worlds greatest illuminated manuscript The Book Of Kells, and soon started reproducing many of the designs and pages. Shortly after he entered the Christian Brothers secondary in Belfast, where he was discouraged from the practice of Celtic art, as there were no instructions as to its appropriate teaching and there were no proficient teachers practicing the art. He continued the practice of the art privately along side the study of Irish mythology and twentieth century Irish Celtic mysticism. The artist much saddened by the fact that Irish Celtic-Christian art was wielded most ignorantly and most vehemently as a political tool for the nationalist community in the North, had decided to withdraw until such a time that both sides of the divide could silently and reverently approach the art with a fresh vibrant unified vision.

Deeply engrossed in thought and contemplation and seeking to understand the meaning of nature and the revelation of books and symbols, he discovered that solitude is the ally of sorrow as well as a companion of spiritual awareness. But alas the spirit was wounded, imprisioned in the darkness of human conflict as an eagle suffers in its cage when it see's a flock of birds flying freely in the spacious sky. Every time he went to the fields and the woods he returned to gaze upon the cold-grey buildings of Belfast, he suffered without awareness. Torn by two forces, the first elevates him and shows him the inner beauty of nature and of existence through the pale Irish twilight. The second binds him to the ground and fills his eyes with despair and overpowers him with fear and emptiness. Every time he closed his eyes he could see secluded rivulets and rustling branches in hidden glens. Every time he opened them he was confronted with the mechanistic clamour of the grey/black broken city and severed humanity. Those sacred valleys and hills fired his creative spirit and imagination, but the dark destructive conflict of shallow human egotism, wove around his sensitive heart a net of hopelessness.

Jeff was guided to a Rabbi teacher, whom he spent one year with, before joining the merchant navy. He traveled around the world many times, where he had the opportunity to study and contemplate first hand sacred art forms as well as world religions. It was during this time that he got to know the heart of the eternal pilgrim intimately, for he was himself a constant pilgrim in the holy lands of the world. On returning to Ireland he re-located to the sacred Boyne Valley. It was at this time that he began working with a well known Dublin based artist, designing for more than ten years, for him.The artist worked briefly with a Meath based monumental stone sculptor, before moving into the mountainous landscape of the Irish West coast. It was here that he painstakingly worked and developed the art to a degree that has not been witnessed within the island of Ireland or indeed the British Isles since the demise of the Celtic church. He discovered the thirst of the soul is sweeter than the wine of material pursuits, and the beauty of spirit is deeper than the entrapments of the body. His travels steered his course to New Zealand where he proceeded to have an exhibition and work on community based projects with renowned NZ photographer and artist Shirley Grace McGregor. He was also taught the fundamentals of wood carving by acclaimed Maori master carver Laurie Nicholas. With this new development, working with Laurie, he proceeded to bring the Celtic and Maori together in the form of three magnificent wood carvings. He returned home, and soon left for Norway and Denmark where he made contact with several carvers and artisans with the intention of bringing the Celtic and the Norse together in wood and stone.

The artist while asked to present and share Celtic Christian Art at the annual Celtic spirituality week held in All Hallows college Dublin, was guided to Old St.Patick's church in Chicago, by friend, singer/composer Liam Lawton. A relationaship with the church was established, which is still unfolding. While there the artist was involved in a number of projects including two exhibitions, and creating a fully decorated illuminated memorial book called the Book Of Patrick. Old St.Patrick's church is most unusual in that it was built by Irish immigrants in 1853. It was the second parish founded in the city of Chicago. In 1912, pastor William J.McNamee decided to redo the interior of the church in a Celtic Renaissance style. He wanted the artwork to reflect the rich heritage of the people who worshipped there. The man behind the art, Thomas O'Shaughnessy was greatly inspired by the Reliquary of St,Patrick's bell, the Ardagh Chalice, The Tara brooch, and the Cong cross, that were on display in the irish village at the Columbian exposition of 1893. Thomas O'Shaughnessy was also greatly inspired and taught art by Alphonse Mucha in the early 1900's. The Czech artist has also inspired the young Irish symbolist. The artist made his way to New York state, where he was invited to present a series of exhibitions, by acclaimed Celtic silver and gold smith Stephen Walker of Walker metalsmiths. On returning to Ireland, the artist collaborated with Meath based wood carver Claidhbh O'Gibne on a series of highly intricate and elaborate Celtic wood carvings.

Jeff is presently engaged in reviving the art of the ancient Irish illuminated manuscript. He will be working exclusively from the Sapiential (Wisdom) books of the Bible as well as Wisdom books long excluded from the canonical Bible and relegated to the Apocrypha. His first Irish Celtic illuminated manuscript is the Song of Songs. Original pieces of Jeff's can be found in Canada, throughout North and South America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. He has two religious paintings in the personal collection of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Celtic artist Jeff Fitzpatrick Adams is concerned with the serious decline in not only the authentic practice of Irish Celtic/Christian art but also the way in which the sacred art of the great manuscripts is degraded to the position of living and moving entirely in the empirical world of the senses. Its aim is sadly to afford a refined enjoyment, to offer commercial amusement, pleasure and entertainment. In short the Golden Era art form that once shone out so brightly across the desolate expanse of Europe; the art of some of the most renown artisans the world has ever seen, has been commonly reduced to the realm of materialism. The artist realizes fully the difficulty in presenting and preserving a vision inspired by nature and spirit in the social milieu in which he finds himself. But when one makes concessions to poplar tastes, then commercial considerations thus tend to assume the creation of a piece of art. This is tragically the way with Irish Celtic Christian art. In Ireland today the splendour of this art form although still practiced by a few authentic practitioners is considered solely a tourist commodity along with Guinness t-shirts and Arran-sweaters. The Irish Nation like a child is following the government, holding the hem of its false garment, forgetting their own dreams, while their heritage is being obliterated before their very eyes. Need I draw attention to that sacred place at the very heart of Irish Sovereignty; Tara and the M3 motorway. Is this going to be the tragic fate of Irish Celtic art? Surely when a Nations heritage and roots are slowly eradicated, one is left firmly in the vice grip of complete social control, not only totalitarianism but the subtler and more pervasive forms of mass manipulation and deceit. This could ultimately lead to a sense of inner dispossession; look inside and remember 1846.

The artist feels very strongly that the Irish Nation and beyond deserve to partake of their glorious heritage and become aware of their inner identity with arguably the worlds most intricate and glorious of ethnic art forms. Jeff would like to demonstrate to the public at large that Irish Celtic Christian art is not an old ascetic wrinkled over by unnumbered years, but a very active participant in the mysteries of world art-forms. The artist would like to reveal, that the art is very much alive and needs to be taken seriously and through the active presence of original pieces throughout the island of Ireland; Irish Celtic Christian art will once again return to its rightful place as Ireland's National art form. This will not only release Celtic art from its modern commercial fetters but will also present to the Native Irish and visitor alike, authentically made traditional pieces of work revealing a new balanced incarnation of the beauty inner and outer of Irish Celtic Christian art. Jeff's hope is to present this new vision at a governmental level and to seek support and sponsorship in creating vibrant original Celtic pieces in various mediums, for both the North and South of Ireland.

The Artist believes that the inspiration behind the origin of such art, has to be derived from a higher level of consciousness. To speak in terms of the spirit and a higher dimension of consciousness may perhaps seem somewhat mystical, but it must be remembered that Irish Celtic Christian art is a purely mystical art form, uniting both nature based and spirit based streams of consciousness within the sacred Isle of Sovereign Eire. Jeff is convinced that contemplation of original pieces, would enhance the quality of the individual and social life of the nation by virtue of the particular pieces, spiritual aesthetics. It can also bring fresh inspiration to a world but particularly to a modern Ireland that is much darkened and sadly limited by its own perceptions by fixing its sights too exclusively upon material things.