Celtic Artistic Aesthetics
Celtic artists seem to have seen things differently than we do today. They borrowed the designs of other peoples but changed them and applied them to suit their own taste.  The Celtic artist liked to use Tension- to make lines seem to pull or move and  Ambiguity- to make the unreal seem real however everything still was required to fit into an Ideal-construct .

Ancient geometric designs were borrowed from the Greeks by Hallstadt artists.

The Greeks used real looking though stylized plants such as the Palmette and Lotus for their designs

Celtic artists liked the Lotus and Palmette but they wanted them to move so they gave them tension.
Which catches your eye the worrlygig or the plant?

LaTene Artists made things look Abstract and gave them Ambiguity as well as depth and motion.

        
The Border below captures all elements- The border is composed of many animals however while
real looking they are ambiguous- they are not real. By intertwining tails and trunks the animals appear to have tension and look like they are moving. Yet when one stands back from the entire
scene the frame as a construct is one piece it is an Ideal form.


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