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    Ireland’s Oldest and Largest Medieval Book Shrine Goes on Public View for the First Time

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    Book shrine discovered at Lough Kinale, Tonymore North, County Longford, Ireland. All images courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland, shared with permission

    Ireland’s Oldest and Largest Medieval Book Shrine Goes on Public View for the First Time

    June 24, 2025

    ArtBooksCraftHistory

    Kate Mothes

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    In an unassuming lake in Ireland’s northern County Longford, an unprecedented find emerged in 1986. Thanks to the sediments in the body of water, pieces of a unique, highly decorated metal object dating to the 9th century were remarkably preserved. And now, after a 39-year conservation project, the nation’s oldest and largest medieval book shrine is now on view.

    Known as the Lough Kinale Book Shrine after its namesake lake, the object features a series of medallions with precious stone inserts, along with embellished metalwork in the form of a cross. Part of the exhibition Words on the Wave: Ireland and St. Gallen in Early Medieval Europe at the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, the stunning artifact is complemented by a number of pieces contemporary to its day.

    Detail of the Lough Kinale book shrine

    The shrine’s metal is bronze and encompasses an oak container, which would have held a treasured manuscript associated with a Christian saint. Used to convey the volume to various ceremonial activities, it also would have originally featured a leather strap to make it easier to transport.

    Words on the Wave also includes a Viking sword uncovered in the River Shannon in Limerick and a beautiful example of a medieval brooch-pin, the Ardshanbally Brooch, which dates to the 8th or 9th century.

    Thanks to scientific analysis, manuscripts on loan from the Abbey Library in St. Gall, Switzerland, have also been confirmed to have originated in Ireland. Researchers determined that the vellum pages were made from the hides of Irish cattle, and monks traveled with the books to Switzerland more than a thousand years ago. This exhibition marks the first time in more than a millennium that the illuminated tomes have resided in Ireland.

    Words on the Wave continues in Dublin through October 24. Learn more and plan your visit on the museum’s website.

    Irish Evangelary from St. Gall (Quatuor evangelia), Cod. Sang. 51, p. 78. © Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gallen

    Detail of the Lough Kinale book shrine

    Detail of the Lough Kinale book shrine

    Detail showing St Matthew applying a scribal knife or scraper to a page and dipping his pen in an inkwell (Cod. Sang. 1395, p. 418). © Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gallen

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      in Art

      Tiff Massey Celebrates Detroit Culture and Style in Monumental Mixed-Media Installations

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      “I’ve Got Bundles and I Got Flewed Out (Green)” (2023). All images courtesy of the artist and Detroit Institute of Arts, shared with permission

      Tiff Massey Celebrates Detroit Culture and Style in Monumental Mixed-Media Installations

      April 23, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      From larger-than-life double-bobble hair bands to a wall of elaborate braids, Tiff Massey spotlights distinctive Detroit style. Trained as a metalsmith, the artist employs the power of material and scale to highlight the city’s neighborhoods and Black identity and culture.

      7 Mile + Livernois, Massey’s solo exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts, takes inspiration from the crossroads at the heart of the city’s Black business and fashion district, where the artist grew up. The area will soon be home to a new arts and community space that Massey is spearheading in an effort to guide and celebrate local kinship.

      “Everyday Arsenal” (2018)

      Personal adornment is central to the artist’s expression, which she channels through jewelry, sculptures, and mixed-media assemblages to underscore Black style with a focus on her hometown. “Whatupdoe” and “Everyday Arsenal,” for example, respectively transform a contemporary chain necklace and silver rings into monumental installations, creating terrains of portal-like tunnels and interlocked angles.

      The “ancestral flyness” of the artist’s parents and previous generations also provides a limitless well of inspiration. “How they adorned themselves has definitely been influential not only to how I adorn myself but also to the ideas that I have within the works,” Massey says in an interview for the DIA exhibition catalogue. “Detroiters, when we step outside, we step outside. We want people to see it. We want people to see us. And that has left a tremendous impression on me.”

      7 Mile + Livernois continues through May 11. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Baby Bling” (2023)

      “Whatupdoe” (2024)

      Detail of “I’ve Got Bundles and I Got Flewed Out (Green)”

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    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      Welded Stainless Steel Creatures by Georgie Seccull Twist and Unfurl in Eternal Motion

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      Art

      #animals
      #metal
      #metalwork
      #sculpture
      #steel
      #welding

      August 27, 2020
      Christopher Jobson

      Zenith & Nadir, 2020. All images by Andrew J Bourke, © Georgie Seccull, shared with permission.
      Australian sculptor and installation artist Georgie Seccull creates large-scale stainless steel sculptures of animals and other creatures seemingly locked in motion. Comprised of numerous pieces cut from metal sheets, the materials lend themselves to organic forms like feathers, scales, wings, or the armaments of crustaceans. Seccull’s work scales up dramatically in her installation practice where she’s filled entire rooms and atriums with suspended pieces.
      “We are born out of chaos in darkness and come into the light—my process is much the same: I begin with a thousand pieces scattered on the ground, then working almost like a jigsaw puzzle, I pick them up one by one and allow each piece to come together organically and dictate the outcome,” the artist shares in a statement.
      One of Seccull’s most recent sculptures has been nominated for a Beautiful Bizarre People’s Choice art prize, and she has an upcoming solo show at the Gasworks Art Park near Melbourne. You can see more of her work on Instagram.

      The Beyond
      Cancer Rising
      Dancing in the Dark
      The Gatekeepers, detail
      Through the Dark
      Resistance, 2019
      Return to the Source
      Artist Georgie Seccull in her studio.

      #animals
      #metal
      #metalwork
      #sculpture
      #steel
      #welding

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