Relief Sculpture/Stasis and Action

Grade level: Middle and high school. May be adapted for lower grades.

Objectives for students:
· to gain competence in using art media and processes to create a relief

· to see how artists use certain lines and shapes to express balance and order or action

· to create a relief sculpture showing both stasis and action

· to recognize the styles of carved reliefs produced in ancient Egypt

Visual materials

The visual materials listed below are in an order that develops the progression of the lesson.

West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I
Fragment of a battle scene
Akhenaten sacrificing a duck

Advance preparation
Read and be familiar with the information about the three images above and about pose and gesture, materials and techniques in Looking at Egyptian Art, and the role of artists.

Class discussion
Show West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I. Review the poses and gestures of the figures in this relief. Look for the strong horizontal and vertical elements as well as the triangular composition. Discuss how the poses and arrangement of the figures on the left side of the scene are nearly identical to those on the right. How does this balanced composition reflect Egyptian beliefs about permanence and eternity as well as about maintaining order over chaos?

Discuss poses that show action in a scene. Ask volunteers to pantomime a scene. From time to time have the volunteers "freeze" the action and point out the different lines formed by bodies, arms, and legs. Then ask volunteers to take poses that would be good in a quiet scene. Have students make some quick sketches of the poses and gestures that create action or a sense of quiet.

Look at fragment of a battle scene and Akhenaten sacrificing a duck--at the same time, if possible--and look for elements that indicate action. In the battle scene, students may notice diagonal and curved lines, overlapping and tangled shapes, and the expressive hands and mouths of the fallen soldiers. In the second image, Akhenaten's arms are held diagonally and his hands are twisted to show the movement involved in holding on to a struggling duck.

Discuss the details: the beards and mustaches of the Asiatic warriors, the fingers of Akhenaten's hand holding the duck. Are these scenes similar to the depiction in  West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I? How are they different?

Discuss the two techniques of relief carving, raised and sunk. How are they different? Which kind of relief did the ancient Egyptians use for the outside of temples? Which did they usually use inside? (Think about sunlight and dark interiors.)

Activity
Materials:

Preparation: If plaster of paris is being used, prepare by pouring it into Styrofoam meat trays and allowing it to set until hard but not dry for ease in carving. Plasticine or self-hardening clay should be rolled out into slabs.

Students may create their own scene involving a number of figures in both static and active poses--a sports event with spectators or a performer with an audience, for example. A composition on paper  the same size and shape as the slab of clay or plaster should be produced first.

When the sketch is completed, lay it on top of the plaster or clay slab and trace the lines with a sharp pencil or stylus to make indentations on the surface below. Remove the sketch and use the stylus to carefully deepen the lines around the forms.

Cut away either the background around the forms or the inside of the forms themselves, depending on whether a raised or sunk relief is desired. Work carefully to keep the relief about the same depth throughout, about a quarter of an inch.

Allow the relief to dry thoroughly and display. Raised reliefs may be painted in flat colors, if desired.

This is a good activity for middle-school students who are ready for more complicated techniques.

Younger students will enjoy posing for the sketches. Older students may wish to take a little more time on this preliminary step so that they have specific poses that they can refer to when composing their drawing.

Connections
Language Arts: Have students make a list of words describing what is going on in the relief they made. Use these words to create an expressive paragraph to display with the relief sculpture.

Science: Look at West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I and discuss how the environment affects buildings and their architectural details over time. How is this evident in the students' own environment? What can be done to prevent or repair damage? Does the museum have a role in conserving and protecting works of art? Explain.

Social Studies: Discuss the symbolic aspects of these two reliefs. How do they depict the power of the king? How do other cultures symbolize power through art?

Drama/Dance/Music: Develop a pantomime or dramatic sketch based on what is happening in the relief sculptures, either the works of art in this site or those the students created.