Born in Belfast, Ireland in 1890, Eva McKee was among the artists who championed the Celtic revival of Irish arts and crafts that took place during the 1920s and 1930s. She and her business partner, Eveline McCloy, invigorated the Irish Decorative Arts Association and are credited with making Belfast the foremost center of craftwork in the Celtic or Irish style in the 1920s.

The women produced art in a variety of media, including woodwork, ceramics, cloth embroidery, jewelry, leatherwork, repoussé metalwork, and painted cards. McKee and McCloy worked almost exclusively with Irish themes such as figures of Celtic mythology, traditional Irish sayings, Celtic designs, and the Irish language.

The items in this exhibit, which are all selected from the Eva McKee art works at Burns Library, demonstrates both McKee and McCloy’s business acumen as well as their appreciation for the literary and artistic legacy of their country through the creation of beautiful works of art with Irish themes.