Michelle Skobel, a bead artist renowned for her technical virtuosity and deep engagement with cultural symbolism, has built a unique and distinguished practice around the recreation and reinterpretation of Celtic knotwork through bead embroidery and weaving. Based in the Pacific Northwest and of Irish-Scottish heritage, Skobel merges ancestral motifs with contemporary aesthetics, using thousands of glass beads to construct labyrinthine patterns that celebrate the mathematical elegance and spiritual resonance of Celtic art. Her work does not merely replicate historical forms; it reimagines them in dazzling, tactile detail, bringing the ancient language of interlacing lines into a medium alive with light, texture, and dimensional nuance.
Celtic knotwork, with its endlessly looping, interwoven lines, has long symbolized continuity, unity, and the eternal cycle of life and death. Traditionally found in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells, on ancient stone carvings, and within the decorative arts of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, these motifs are composed of unbroken paths that weave over and under themselves, forming geometric and zoomorphic designs. Skobel’s artistic journey into this heritage began as a personal exploration of her Celtic roots, but quickly evolved into a complex artistic discipline. Her initial studies of knotwork involved tracing historical patterns and deconstructing their geometries, but her breakthrough came when she began to translate these lines into beaded forms, using the beads themselves to render the intricacy and rhythm of the knot as both image and structure.
Working primarily with Japanese Delica and Czech seed beads, Skobel employs a combination of off-loom beadweaving techniques—peyote stitch, square stitch, and herringbone stitch—as well as bead embroidery stitched onto stiffened felt or canvas. Her pieces often begin as detailed pencil drawings or digital renderings, in which she maps the knot’s path and calculates the grid necessary to capture its precise curvature in bead form. Because beads are rigid in structure and uniform in size, translating the organic flow of knotwork into beaded tessellation requires extraordinary care. Skobel innovates by blending matte, metallic, and transparent finishes to simulate light, depth, and shadow, thereby giving her knotwork the illusion of three-dimensional movement despite its grid-based foundation.
One of her most recognized works, Triskelion of the Sea, is a large-scale beaded wall panel over a foot in diameter, based on the triple-spiral motif found in ancient Irish tombs and Neolithic sites such as Newgrange. Composed of over 45,000 beads in deep teal, pearl white, and burnished gold, the piece combines swirling triskele forms with concentric knotwork bands that ripple outward like tidal waves. The central spiral is rendered in subtly graduated beads, giving the impression of a vortex or portal. Around it, Skobel layers linear knots that seem to fold in on themselves, forming a pattern that is both hypnotic and structured. The work evokes a sense of primordial energy, a visual chant that pulses with ancient rhythm through modern hands.
Skobel’s wearable art continues this dialogue between heritage and innovation. Her necklace Claddagh’s Embrace features a central medallion shaped in a heart encircled by interlaced arms and crowned with beadwoven arches, referencing the iconic Irish Claddagh symbol of love, loyalty, and friendship. The knots are not merely symbolic; they are built to encircle the neck and fall across the clavicle in a carefully engineered drape that reflects both elegance and armor. Each curve of the knot is stitched in metallic bronze and green beads, while the heart at the center gleams with faceted garnet and topaz crystals. The entire structure, while soft and flexible in motion, maintains the solidity of a pendant meant to endure, an heirloom of bead and thread.
Color plays a vital role in Skobel’s work. Inspired by Celtic manuscripts and stonework, she uses a restrained yet powerful palette: natural earth tones, forest greens, indigo blues, and the occasional flash of red or gold to suggest fire or divine presence. She often references the Celtic wheel of the year in her seasonal series, producing knotwork panels for Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Each is beaded in colors that reflect the landscape and energies of the season—rust and charcoal for Samhain, evoking fallen leaves and bonfires; soft yellow and green for Beltane, celebrating growth and fertility. Within these panels, Skobel embeds symbols such as oak leaves, stags, spirals, and solar wheels, all integrated into knotwork that moves in and around them, suggesting the interconnectedness of life, death, and rebirth.
Beyond aesthetic brilliance, Skobel’s beadwork also serves a contemplative purpose. She has described her stitching process as a form of meditation, each bead a breath, each knot a mantra. The recursive nature of Celtic design mirrors the beading process itself—line after line, loop after loop, built slowly and with deliberate focus. This process-centric philosophy is reflected in her workshops and lectures, where she teaches not only technique but the historical and spiritual significance of Celtic patterns. Her commitment to authenticity is matched by a willingness to experiment, whether by embedding semi-precious stones into the knots or by integrating LED micro-lighting into wall pieces to highlight specific knot paths.
Michelle Skobel’s Celtic knotwork in beads is more than a technical feat; it is an act of cultural synthesis. Through her art, she bridges ancient motifs and contemporary materials, sacred design and wearable form. Each of her pieces is a narrative—of lineage, of craftsmanship, of spiritual resonance—told not through ink or stone but through the luminous whisper of bead against bead. In her hands, Celtic knotwork becomes a living language, one that continues to speak of mystery, unity, and the beauty of the interwoven path. Her beadwork is a reminder that even in the modern world, there is still room for the infinite loop, the sacred spiral, and the enduring thread of tradition transformed.