Art in Grade 7/8

In Grade 7 and 8 we've started off the year looking at Ancient Egypt. Through the art they have left behind we have been able to learn about what was important to them; their way of life, the importance they put on their gods, their view of the afterlife and so much more.

We started with a project where students created a cartouche. In this clay oval students carved out their name in hieroglyphics according to the phonetic spelling and then painted them to correspond with the Ancient Egyptian symbols. From there, students did rubbings of their work. This procedure is similar to what archaeologists would have done when they came across the Egyptian tombs so that they could record what they had found.

An Egyptian cartouche (clay and acrylic) - "Sarah"

"Becca"

A student rubbing with hieroglyphics describing the interests and likes of the student.

Another student's "wall carving" with their cartouche rubbing and descriptive hieroglyphics.

The final project students have been working on ties in with their history projects where each student researched an Ancient Egyptian god. In looking at the way their god was depicted through symbols and colours, students created a scene with their god in the Ancient Egyptian style.

The first step was to mix and pour the plaster. After a couple weeks of drying, students transferred their drawings onto the plaster face with carbon paper. Next, they carefully carved out the outline of their drawing from the plaster. Finally, students used tempera paints to add colour which would have been a similar process and medium as what the Ancient Egyptians would have done.

 Transferring the sketch onto the plaster with carbon paper.

 Painting the carved plaster with tempera paints.