In my survey of new arts and crafts pieces in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, we have looked at woodblock prints, serigraphs, and posters. This week's featured work by an unknown Egyptian artist is an example of another kind of art on paper, where the type of paper used defines the folk art genre--in this case, papyrus painting. The ancient art of pressing together and drying out strips of the pithy core of papyrus plants to create a durable writing surface dates back to the time of the Pharaohs. Careful management of the once endangered Nile river reed has encouraged a modern revival of traditional paper-making, mostly for souvenir papyrus scrolls, painted with pictures of Tutankhamen or Egyptian hieroglyphics. Christian imagery from the seven-million-strong Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church sometimes appears in papyrus art like this icon of St. Mark the Evangelist. He is revered in the ancient Middle Eastern faith community as the First Century founder of Coptic Christianity and the first in an unbroken line of 118 patriarchs and popes. St. Mark holds a sacred book beside a lion, identifying him as one of the four Gospel writers. The tower in the background is the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, in the city where St. Mark established the first episcopate in Africa. This modern piece of paper art can be found on the Egyptian Coptic Papyri page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)