Kimberly Arnold

For one Canadian woman, creativity is its own reward

Artist and writer Kimberley Arnold always knew that Scotland was in her blood.

“While my parents told us that we were mostly English with a bit of German on my mother's side, I always wanted to be Scottish,” she tells Celtic Life International via email from her home in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

“I didn't really know why I wanted to be Scottish until a few years ago; I took an ancestry DNA test and discovered that I was 50 percent Scottish, with the remaining being Germanic and English. I knew then what I had already known - I was a 100 percent Celtic.”

Arnold's curiosity for Scottish and Celtic culture remained a constant throughout her life. In college, her roommate - a Celtic musician - introduced her to Celtic music and ceilidhs.

“Around the same time, my sister moved to London, England which led me to travel throughout Ireland, Scotland, and England over the next 30 years. From that first trip in my early 20s, my passion for all things Celtic was ignited and I began creating Celtic-themed art.”

Her first piece was a large watercolour. “I don't know where it came from, but I didn't need lessons or to practice. It just came out of me.”

Arnold studied the meanings of Celtic symbols, Celtic art, and Ogham - the secret language of the Druids - all of which enriched her understanding of Celtic culture, adding greater meaning to her work.

Her creative edge has evolved over the years.

“I continue to do Celtic art for the love of the designs and what they represent, but, as I evolved, my quest for spiritual understanding led me to Buddhism and modern Western spiritual teachers. However, something was still missing.”

It was after working with some of Canada's Indigenous communities that Arnold discovered that missing piece: “It led me to think, ‘What is my Indigenous tradition?' The answer at that time was obvious - the Celts.”

Arnold's focus on (pre-Christian) Celtic spirituality began to take center stage.

“My work has gone from doing nice designs and representational art - Celtic crosses, knot work, birds, serpents, stags and hounds, and the like - to imparting Celtic spiritual messages and related pieces of wisdom that I have been privileged to receive.

“The evolution has also included understanding Ogham and I have translated these pieces of wisdom from English,” she continues. “From a material perspective, my art has gone from just using pen and ink to also including 24 karat gold leaf for additional dimension and colour.”

She cites sacred texts such as The Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels as some of her biggest inspirations.

In addition to working as an artist, Arnold is also a published author. Her first book, Authentic Love, was published in 2023. She notes that all her creative work brings her both challenges and gifts.

“Expressing what is in me in a unique way is my reward. Finding what I love to do is my reward. Having a very effective creative and spiritual outlet is my reward. Although the responses from people are also a wonderful bonus. If I can impact people in a positive way - if even for a moment - what could be better?”

Arnold is concerned about the current lack of popular interest in Celtic arts - surprising, given the number of people alive today who claim Celtic ancestry.

“So many people are interested in Indigenous spirituality and arts in many different countries,” she says, noting specifically Indigenous communities in North America, Australia, and Mexico. “And yet not many people see the Celts as being the Indigenous people of much of Europe.”

The best way to change this, she believes, is through education.

“Knowledge is the great improver.” Arnold is currently focused on her next big project, her sophomore literary effort Radical Widsom 1. - a collection of musings on Celtic spiritual and human wisdom. The book is set for release later this year.

Arnold describes her work as “a modern interpretation of traditional Celtic art used on metal work, stone, and in books...”