Magic & Mystery: An Ancient Egyptian Art Workshop

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

Book now

Magic & Mystery: An Ancient Egyptian Art Workshop

The Portico Library, Chinatown
19 November 2022

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Creative Society
Book now

Learning about ancient civilizations can often involve a lot of passive reading, researching and listening. However, in this hands-on creative workshop from the Creative Society Manchester, you will be learning about the Ancient Egyptian kings and queens as well as traditional artistic techniques and methods, whilst creating your own visage of Queen Nerfertiti.

add rich and symbolically royal tones to the image, before embellishing your painting with gold leaf

Rather than using traditional canvas you’ll be painting a pre-drawn image of the infamous queen on hand-made genuine papyrus. You’ll add rich and symbolically royal tones to the image, before embellishing your painting with gold leaf. This detail relates to the luxurious embellishments that were often incorporated into traditional Ancient Egyptian art.

a beautiful place with a wealth of knowledge held within

All the materials are included as well as tools and instruction on how to work with the papyrus. During the workshop you’ll also look at hieroglyphics and learn the meaning of the symbols as well as how to draw them. You’ll also have access to the members only area of the Portico Library, a beautiful place with a wealth of knowledge held within. Drinks and snacks will be available to purchase from the cafe throughout.

The Creative Society, who are hosting this session, curate painting and craft workshops for adults and children, with a focus on wellbeing and encouraging people to find a love of creative pursuits in a friendly and supportive environment.

This workshop is just one in a series of unique events taking place in the Portico Library over the next few months. It’s easy to find creative inspiration when you’re surrounded by the library’s beautiful interior.

What's on at The Portico Library

Where to go near Magic & Mystery: An Ancient Egyptian Art Workshop

City Centre
Restaurant
Blinker

Elegant cocktail bar in the centre of Manchester, with a relaxed atmosphere and wonderfully friendly staff.

moose coffee manchester creative tourist
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Moose Coffee Manchester

Moose Coffee celebrates ‘the best meal of the day’ (brunch) in American style, with stack pancakes, potato hash, Huevos Rancheros and eggs any way. There’s always a queue.

Home-X
Manchester
Restaurant
Home-X

Home-X is the online spin-off of renowned Scottish-Italian chef Nico Simeone’s Six By Nico restaurant. This is geared around kit meals to cook at home.

Manchester
Restaurant
Pho Manchester

Pho does a fine line in pho, the noodle soup that’s a staple of Vietnamese street cuisine.

Manchester
Shop
Siam Smiles

Now based at the Great Northern, Siam Smiles is a food stop that’s hot on everyone’s lips.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Manchester Art Gallery Cafe

Summery bakes, seasonal salads and fresh light meals at Manchester Art Gallery’s in-house café, courtesy of highly-regarded Head Chef Matthew Taylor.

hunan chinese restaurant manchester
Chinatown
Restaurant
Hunan Restaurant

Hunan, a Chinese restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown, may be a bit off the beaten track – but it’s all the better for that.

What's on: Activity

Until
Activity
The Medieval Quarter Walking Tour

Explore Manchester’s Medieval Quarter on an architect-led walking tour uncovering the city’s oldest streets, historic buildings and centuries of hidden history.

From £20.00
Love Lane Brewery Exterior
Until
TourBaltic Triangle
Love Lane & Higsons Brewery Tour Experience!

Every weekend in Liverpool’s buzzing Baltic Triangle, Love Lane Brewery invites visitors behind the scenes for an hour-long tour through its striking, industrial space. Housed in a converted rubber factory,

From £25.00
Two young visitors looking up at a banner in a case, holding pencils and an activity sheet.
Until
ActivityManchester
2025 Banner Bingo at PHM

Explore the People’s History Museum with your banner bingo card in hand as you navigate their galleries through the lens of craftivism.

Free entry
BD Walls
Until
ActivityBradford
BD Walls in Bradford

Street art takes centre stage in BD Walls, with vibrant murals transforming the city into an open-air cultural gallery.

Free entry
Get Outside with Bradford 2025: An image of a large man made pool with fountains in front of a historic building with a clock tower
Until
FestivalsBradford
Get Outside with Bradford 2025

Explore art in the moorlands, soundscapes through the glen and appreciate how the city has become totally transformed when you get outside with Bradford 2025.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Music in the North

Manchester’s closing out the year – and looking to the new one – with a run of gigs from some of the country’s best underground exports.

Exhibitions in the North

This season, exhibitions across the North West feel attuned to the world beneath the world – the forces and stories shaping how we see, feel and imagine.

Sepia image of a courtroom with the words 'Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird’
Theatre in the North

Winter brings a huge haul of seasonal shows, as well as productions that resolutely veer away from the fairy lights.

A performer in a bright red costume sits on a snowy stage set, holding a large snowball between their legs with a surprised expression. The colourful winter backdrop features snowflakes, hills, a snowman, and a traffic light with glowing lights.
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.

Food and Drink in the North

Hear ye, hear ye. Take some eating-out tips from our wintertime guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.