HOW IT ALL STARTED by Danny Hansen
It all started when I joined the SCA,
the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group dedicated to the study and recreation of the Middle Ages, and was introduced to Celtic Art. I was intrigued by the intricate perfection and mysterious grammar of this unspoken language. But this newly awakened, self-styled Celt needed raiment for his persona in the SCA, and one of the most important items of fashion for a Celt is a suitable cloak brooch. But where to find one? There were none to be had. The obvious solution was to make one, and so I went to take an introductory course in jewelry making, and a new passion was born. I had always been at odds with previous art instructors; fantasy illustration and abstract expressionism having little common ground. The introduction to this new craft, where philosophy and meaning took a distant back seat to form and function, was liberating! As I was soon to discover, I was truly an artisan at heart, and it was a simple transition to start making jewelry for sale. I enjoyed the challenge of making things meant to be functional, of perfecting a design through repetition, of trying to make something that someone would want to own.
