ART YEAR 1

Ancient Egyptian Art

Desired Result Children will understand that Ancient Egyptian art was created to preserve a record of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. They will also understand that Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people. Children will create an Egyptian cartouche using hieroglyphs.

Academic Idea:

Ancient Egyptian art was created to preserve a record of Egypt’s ancient inhabitants.

Gospel Principle: Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people.

Preparation & Materials Lesson: Online  1-10a—Handout: Egyptian Art Descriptions  One copy for each child  1-10b—Pictures: Egyptian Art Collection  Fourth set of Art Cards  1-10c—Picture: Crocodile God of Egypt  1-10d—Picture: Wall Painting of Neferati  1-10e—Picture: Book of the Dead  1-10f—Picture: Tutankhamen  1-10g—Picture: An Angel Saves Abraham by Del Parsons  1-10h—Picture: Bust of Nefertiti  1-10i—Picture: Great Sphinx  1-10j—Picture: Pyramids of Giza  1-10k—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 1  1-10L—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 3  1-10m—Picture: Rosetta Stone  1-10n—Link: Hieroglyphs of Neferati

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 1-10o—Handout: Egyptian Hieroglyphs  One copy for each child  1-10p—Handout: Egyptian Cartouche  One copy for each child Lesson: Home  Art Supplies for younger children: drawing pencil, eraser, black marker, crayons (or colored pencils or markers), practice paper, black construction paper.  Art Supplies for older children: bar of soap, carving tools (toothpick, fork, etc.) Enrichment: Online  1-10q—Talk: Spencer W. Kimball “The Angels May Quote From It”  1-10r—Link: Kids Zone Hieroglyphs  1-10s—Link: Reading Hieroglyphs

Vocabulary 

hieroglyphs

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papyrus

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cartouche

Lesson

Attention Activity Let’s begin by looking at some new Art Flash Cards.  Use 1-10a Handout: Egyptian Art Descriptions to explain 1-10b Pictures: Egyptian Art Collection which includes the pictures from 1-10c through 1-10L. Pass out 1-10a Handout: Egyptian Art Descriptions to each child. Mother leads the following discussion of the Art Cards. I’m going to show you several pictures. As we look at each picture, I’ll tell you what it is and where it is from. Then we will read the descriptions on the handout.  Review pictures.

Academic Idea:

Ancient Egyptian art was created to preserve a record of Egypt’s ancient inhabitants.

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Research Ancient Egyptian art includes all sculpture, painting, bookmaking, carving, and architecture or building produced over three thousand years ago by the civilization living in the Nile Valley. The Egyptian people cultivated many artistic skills and fine craftsmanship in stone, metal, textiles, and paint. Egyptian art has a unique style and is very symbolic. 

After looking at the art cards, how would you describe Egyptian art? (Large, the people are drawn sideways, eyes with black lines, big funny hats, lots of small writing in the form of pictures, animal shapes, people holding staffs or sticks, colorful, simple lines, lots of repeating shapes and patterns)

Let’s look at the art cards again and find the art that has small writing in the form of pictures. 

Which art cards have writing on them? (1-10c—Picture: Crocodile God of Egypt; 1-10d—Picture: Neferati; 1-10e—Picture: Book of the Dead; 1-10l—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 3)

The pictorial writing that you see is called hieroglyphics. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is made up of picture symbols called hieroglyphs. Some hieroglyphs or pictures stand for sounds that can be combined to make up a word. Some symbols represent a group of sounds and some represent an entire word. The meaning of hieroglyphic writing was unknown for many years until an essential key was discovered, a carved granite stone. Let’s look at the stone while I read the following description.  Show 1-10m— Picture: Rosetta Stone “It was not until quite recently, a mere 200 years ago, that a stone was found in Egypt. This stone had the same short story written on it in Greek, in Demotic [the common script of Egypt], and in hieroglyphics. Scientists could read Greek. Scientists could read Demotic. And now, scientists could begin to read hieroglyphics. They named this famous stone the “Rosetta Stone”. Today, the Rosetta Stone is on display for everyone to see… in the famous British Museum in London.” (http://egypt.mrdonn.org/hieroglyphics.html)

Egyptians used hieroglyphics as a sacred form of writing. It is found mainly on the walls of tombs and temples and on the burial relics of the ancient royal families. Hieroglyphs were also painted on ancient paper scrolls made of papyrus. Papyrus is an Egyptian grass-like plant that Egyptians would cut very thin and glue together to make a type of paper. This is an example of papyrus.  Show 1-10e—Picture: Book of the Dead  Show 1-10d—Picture: Wall Painting of Neferati and open web-site 1-10n—Link: Hieroglyphs of Neferati. Here is a wall painting of the Queen Neferati, one of the Great Royal Wives of Rameses. Her name means ‘beautiful companion’. She has one of the largest and most decorated tombs in the “Valley of the Queens”, the place where the Pharaoh’s wives were buried in Egypt. This is a great example of Egyptian-style painting. Here, Neferati’s head is shown from a profile view and her

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body from a frontal view. Above Neferati’s head is a golden oval with hieroglyphics. This is her name. Now let’s look on the web-site for hieroglyphs of Neferati’s name and compare it to the wall painting. Notice that the hieroglyphs are not in the same order: one is written horizontally and the other is painted vertically. Egyptian hieroglyphs could be read from left to right and up and down. The golden oval within Egyptian hieroglyphics is called a cartouche. A “cartouche” (pronounced car – TOOSH) is an oval with a horizontal line at one end, indicating the text enclosed is a royal name. Around the cartouche are more hieroglyphs that tell a story about the Queen. These important hieroglyphs have preserved her history for thousands of years after her death. Ancient Egyptian Art was created to preserve a record of its ancient inhabitants.  Write this academic idea on the board.

Gospel Principle: Heavenly Father has been commanded us to keep records.

Reason Prophets have been asked by God to keep sacred records. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ was written in the Egyptian language and then translated into English by Joseph Smith through the power of God. When Nephi begins his writing in the Book of Mormon he says, “ I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father… Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians. And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.” (1 Nephi 1: 1-3)

Nephi knew the language of the Egyptians and he knew how to write that language on the gold plates. Mormon, who abridged all the records of the prophets and whom the Book of Mormon is named after, wrote the following: “And now, behold, we [Mormon and all the prophets before him] have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.” (Mormon 9:32)

Our modern-day prophets have emphasized the importance of keeping records of our lives. “Get a notebook, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your

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goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies. Remember, the Savior chastised those who failed to record important events” (Spencer W. Kimball, “The Angels May Quote From It”, Ensign, October 1975).

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What different types of records are use to preserve history? (Journals, diaries, notebooks, scriptures, scrapbooks, even tithing statements are records.)

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How can art be a record? (Sketchbooks are like drawing journals. Portfolios are a also collection of art. Art objects from the past can tell us about the people and culture of that time.)

Relate 

Why is it important for us to keep records? (Without records languages, stories, traditions, important events are lost.)



How can you keep a record? (Start a journal, draw in a sketchbook, keep a book of remembrance of stories about my ancestors. Learn how to research and record family history and genealogy.)

Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people.  Write this gospel principle on the board.

Review & Testimony Let’s review the principles we’ve discovered today.  As directed by the Spirit share your testimony of the gospel principle you have taught.

Academic Idea:

Ancient Egyptian Art was created to preserve a record of Egypt’s ancient inhabitants.

Gospel Principle: Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people.

Literature 

Who remembers what we read in our book last time?  Allow for a recap.

 Read your art literature book aloud for 15 minutes. Underline for art connections with an orange pencil and gospel principles with a purple pencil.

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Record  Choose from the following activities according to time available and appropriateness for each child. Place recordings in your art notebook in the Art History section. All Children

1. Record the principles you have learned today in your notebook. 2. Egyptian Hieroglyphics Activity  Pass out 1-10o—Handout: Egyptian Hieroglyphics, practice paper and appropriate art supplies. a. Let’s practice drawing the hieroglyphs first. Take out a practice paper and pencil and place it next to the Egyptian Hieroglyphs handout. b. Find the hieroglyph that matches the first sound of your name. Now draw the picture that represents that sound on the practice paper. c. Continue drawing all the sounds of your name on the practice paper until you feel successful at each hieroglyph. If some hieroglyphs are difficult you can trace them from the handout page. Younger Children

1. Egyptian Cartouche Activity  Pass out 1-10o—Handout: Egyptian Cartouche. a. Draw the hieroglyphs of your name on the cartouche with a pencil. Please draw the hieroglyphs large enough to fill the space inside the cartouche oval. Remember that the order of hieroglyphs does not matter. You can stack the hieroglyphs any way you choose. b. Now use a black marker to outline the hieroglyphs. c. Next, color the hieroglyphs. d. You can also color around the hieroglyphs with a yellow, tan, or gold crayon to make it look like stone or gold. e. Now draw an Egyptian pattern around the border of the cartouche. We can look at the Art Flash Cards for examples of line patterns for ideas. f.

Now use markers and crayons to color the cartouche border.

g. Finally, carefully cut out the cartouche with scissors and glue it on heavy paper such as cardstock or construction paper. h. Hang the finished cartouche on your bedroom door or place in your art notebook. Older Children

1. Soap Carving Activity  Pass out a bar of soap and the carving tools and decide whether to carve over a sink or lay out some newspaper on a table before beginning the project.

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a. Now that we have a place to carve, let’s draw the hieroglyphs of your name on the blank side of a bar of soap with a dull pencil or pen. b. Next, use a carving tool to scratch into the soap along the draw lines. c. You can carve line patterns all around the sides also to add interesting Egyptian details. d. Finally, wipe away any shavings with a clean cloth. e. Display your cartouche on a small easel or take a photograph of it to put in your art notebook.

Enrichment  The following ideas are for individual or family enrichment and can be used to supplement or prepare for this lesson.

1. Sketchbook: Draw in your sketchbook a picture of your family in the Egyptian style. 2. Family Follow-up: Select a time when children’s cartouches can be shared with family members, such as mealtime, Family Home Evening, or before family prayer. 3. Fiction Reading: The book “Egyptology” and “The Egyptology Handbook” by Emily Sands is a wonderful children’s fiction story with activities about Ancient Egypt. 4. Parent Study: Read the following article 1-10q—Talk: Spencer W. Kimball “The Angels May Quote From It”. 5. Internet Activity: Go to 1-10r—Link: Kids Zone Hieroglyphs to see an interactive Egyptian hieroglyphs alphabet. 6. Coloring Pages: Here you can print off large hieroglyphs to color, and learn more about hieroglyphs and how to read them. Go to 1-10s—Link: Reading Hieroglyphs. 7. Family Night: Read about Abraham’s facsimile 1, 2, and 3 found in The Pearl of Great Price. Read the following quote from the first page of The Pearl of Great Price and discuss the meaning of each picture. The Pearl of Great Price is another record of sacred scripture written by Moses and Abraham and it came from catacombs of Egypt. “The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, [was] written by his own hand, upon papyrus.” (See History of the Church 2:234-36,348-51). Within Abraham’s record there are three sacred facsimiles drawn in the style of ancient Egypt.  Show 1-10k—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 1 and 110L—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 3 8. Field Trip: Go to a local museum that has Egyptian artifacts. Art is so much more amazing when you are looking at the original objects!

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