The Magical Realm of Courtney Davis...

Courtney Davis is the world's leading exponent of Celtic art. His incredible works capture the magic and mystery of the ancient Celts in a manner unparalleled by any other artist. His paintings use the same techniques and symbolism employed by the Celts, an echo of the past when man viewed the world with more spiritual eyes. Courtney's genius is recognized world wide. His commercial success has led him to publish about 50 books, winning countless fans. He himself is a Celt, born to parents of Welsh, Scottish, and Irish descent. Some say that Courtney's art is the result of an ancient memory buried deep within the artist himself. Ironically, he was born October 31'st, the eve of the Celtic festival of Samhain.

Courtney's work is entirely self taught using gouache and ink. On top of being prolific, he continues to create with a vision ever fresh with imagination and design. Courtney has spent a lot of time researching Celtic art, and part of his work involved recreating "lost" images from early Christian manuscripts. Many of the early books were stolen from the monasteries by Vikings who stripped the covers of their jeweled gold and threw the pages away. Some were found by local farmers who would sometimes dip these holy books in water as a way of blessing it. Much was lost. recreating these works required equal measures of deductive reasoning and intuition. Sometimes only dots will remain, giving a clue to outlines and figures not seen for hundreds of years. "Celtic Illumination", published in 1998, featured many such drawn from nearly thirty manuscripts spanning five centuries of religious iconography.

Courtney today... has been exhibited widely in western Europe and was introduced to Chicago in 1995 for his first American exhibition. He has since shown work regularly in the U.S. and in 1998 was a guest of honor at the Tokyo Celtic Festival. Future shows and lectures are being planned for Norway, France, Italy, Australia, and California. Today, many of Courtney's original pieces can be seen in private and institutional collections, as well as chapels and museums. Here they are a source of inspiration, meditation, and healing for his patrons and friends. Courtney is currently working with Poetic Earth in an ongoing effort to bring this ancient Celtic artistry onto the covers of journals as unique as his imagery. Courtney Davis: Artist, Designer, visionary. To learn more about the man and his art, you can visit the official Courtney Davis website at: www.celtic-art.com