Family Inspiration for Celtic Art

The family tradition continues at Walker Metalsmiths with the next generation entering the business. Sons Donald and Willie Walker and nephew Kevin Thomson have begun learning the art and mystery of goldsmithing. On Saint Columba’s Day 2007, eldest son Andrew opened his own retail shop in Rochester, New York to feature the family line of Celtic jewelry.  Pictured from left to right are standing Maggie, Stephen, Susan, Andrew, Donald, Kevin and Barbara. Seated are Jeanne, Willie and Stephen. This photo was taken at the house in Andover where Stephen grew up and where his mother Barbara still lives.

Previous Family Photos

There has been a continuum - and also an evolution - of Scottish and Irish knotwork for centuries. Beyond merely copying ancient Celtic art, Stephen Walker's craft is a manifestation of deep feeling, creativity and technical skill applied to the art of his forbears.

Stephen was born to second and third generation Scottish Americans. His mother's father, William Watt and his father's grandfather, John Walker both came from Aberdeenshire, a part of Scotland rich in Celtic art of the Pictish school. They settled in New York State and Vermont respectively, near the turn of the century. Other parts of the family were Irish and Yankee. Click here for Walker genealogy.

Grandpa Watt was active in the Order of Scottish Clans Lodge in Syracuse, N.Y. Stephen's mother Barbara, was pipe major in one of the first female pipe bands in the world, the Glengarry Girls in the early 1950's in Syracuse. The band broke up when the girls started having families which is where he entered, being born in 1957.

In 1968 Grandma Walker, herself of Irish extraction, visited Ireland and when she returned she brought Stephen a small book about the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. He had been around Scottish regalia of the typical Victorian Pipeband motifs all his eleven years but the fantastic interlaces and spirals fascinated him and he immediately tried to draw designs in that style.