I have long been inspired by ancient history and the foremost topic of Egyptology. This last week saw the anniversary of Howard Carter’s birth, 9 May 1974. With the backing of Lord Carnarvon, Carter discovered Tutenkhamun’s tomb, the most famous and intact of all the tombs.
Much has been written about this subject and there are artefacts all over the world to provide inspiration. I would recommend a visit to the Ashmolean and the British Museum, and if you are lucky enough to travel further there are excellent artefacts to be found in America and Egypt itself.
First I take a broad look at a subject and then narrow down my interest to the things that really strike me that I can work with and inject my own feelings and artistic values into to hopefully produce something that is me.
I find Egyptology fascinating, but have yet to travel to Egypt. At a younger age, it was the pyramids that provided the interest, now it is papyrus, the style of drawing and art, the imagery, colour, hieroglyphs and different artefacts. When my son was younger, about 12 to 15 years ago, we made canopic jars. Egypt is also a rich source of ideas for jewellery.
I plan to dye some fabrics in Egyptian blues and golds and produce rich textile surfaces to reflect the influence.
Images courtesy of Wikipedia
