So Far...

Hello Everyone! The mandala collection has been updated and added onto my flickr page. To see them all so far, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artinshanaty/sets/72157623028372536/

OMG

This is so cool! (except for the very end, which is super cheesy...yeah) but still, 5 minutes of goodness...



Art Clokey's Mandala

In the Middle

Hey there, first mandala round completed by Brian Sylvester and me! I received this in the mail from Brian this past week. We both decided on a 12" x 12" format. Brian has started with a gessoed canvas, and used acrylic paints in bright colors. Much like D. Garzelloni, he has used a light grid/mathematical pattern to start his piece...


Cycle 6, Round 1:

Brian Sylvester to Shana R. Goetsch

Somerville, MA to Baltimore, MD

And in usual form, I have dug through my garbage and found stuff laying around on my floor. I used the corrugated cardboard packaging from a set of bowls, and a piece of tissue paper that I had left laying about for quite awhile because I thought it was interesting. The square of paper just happened to be 12" x 12". This was just another case of helper elves 'placing' things on my floor for me to find. Thanks lil guys...

Shana R. Goetsch to Brian Sylvester

Baltimore, MD to Somerville, MA

YAY! *dives in*

New Artist in the Fold

We have a new artist who will be participating in the ATCTE project! Brian Sylvester, sometimes known as Inkpunk Artworks  will be joining in the mandala making. Brain says he mainly works on canvas now, so we'll see what we get out of this collaboration! He is from the state of Massachusetts, it'll be a shorter jog for the mandalas to go between there and Maryland. Here are some examples of Brian's work (which I feel has quite the ethereal quality to it, despite the fact that there is such a controlled style in the rendering. Someone on his blog remarked that it was "Sacred Geometry". I tend to agree)...

And for some reason, I tried to comment on the last piece on his blog several times, but blogger seems to have not accepted any of them. I have no idea what happened there. So I'll say it here...the last piece is brilliant/gorgeous Brian!

Circling Broken-ly

The USPS has managed to do it again! I picked up my package from Elbee and it was all smashed and rattley."Do not bend" was clearly written on the front of the package. My conclusion is that the USPS are jerks.

Now that that diatribe is over... Elbee and I have exchanged slightly broken mandalas! I have made an approximation of what I think this was supposed to arrive looking like, but did not (see above USPS ineptitude). It was completely in pieces (including the piece that I put on the last round) so I tried to follow all of the glue marks, give or take.

Cycle 4, Round 3

Elbee to Shana R. Goetsch
Tallahassee, FL to Baltimore, MD

I was concentrating on getting this piece the right size, and Elbee goes and cuts parts away from the other. omg *head thunk*

Shana R. Goetsch to Elbee
Baltimore, MD to Tallahassee, FL

So This is Complicated

I found this, and I think it's pretty interesting. I enjoyed watching another type of process in mandala-making unfold...

It Has Begun (Again)

The ATCTE project is back on! We were on a break, in a way. It was just a major adjustment for me to move across the country and start grad school within 3 months. That being said, mandalas have been exchanged!
Momo Luna and I had each received our respective packages last week, and so here we go with the show and tell! I am happy to have this starting again...both of us began with paper and paint and pens. I also attached a bit of purple colored plastic mesh to the center of the one I sent. The many uses for those mesh veggie bags can get kind of exciting for me, no lie.

Cycle 5, Round 2:

Moma Luna to Shana R. Goetsch

Arnhem, Gelderland, Holland to Baltimore, MD, USA

Shana R. Goetsch to Moma Luna

Baltimore, MD, USA to Arnhem, Gelderland, Holland

YAY for mandalas!

Sent and Sent!

Momo Luna and I have (finally-my fault) exchanged mandalas. They are in the mail and traveling across the ocean right the heck now! It will most likely take a week or so to get to their respective locations, so please check back soon!!!

The Mail Hath Foresaken Me

Okay guys, I am in Baltimore....but my new mailman refused to deliver my mail for about a week...I'm still not sure about its effectiveness. Perhaps I should think about a Post Office box. Anyway, Wes Way has told me that he had an idea to finish, but he will be sending me a test letter first, to see if the mailman is actually delivering my mail. I have already called to complain once, and I'll do it again, and again, and again, if I have to (don't push me, mailman, I'm making mail ART, which is important). So, needless to say, this little bunch of crap is courtesy of the US Post Office.

But I have just brought out my paints (um...found them) yesterday. And now I'm ready to get this ball rolling! I have two that I need to work on. Finishing Wes' and starting on Momo Luna's. Here we go!

UPDATE

I am still in the process of moving, and some of my fellow artists are not 'feeling' the mandalas presently. HOWEVER, Wes Way has told me that he will be bringing the finished mandala with him when I move to Baltimore (he has generously agreed to help me move). So, by the first of the June, we should have an update, and more will soon follow because I will be settled in one location!!!

To Be Continued

So, where are the mandalas, you ask? I am currently in the process of moving across-country to Baltimore, and so things are all over the place, and being packed away for the trip. An update is coming, from someone, somewhere....soon. I promise. Momo Luna has finally (!) received her package from me, after three or so weeks of red tape, and is probably waiting for me to complete the next round (I'm getting there, don't worry). I figure I will need to work on some art really soon. In about a month, I will be in one place/state, and it will be great.

Until then, I pose a question...do you think a record player could achieve spin art?

Buddha's Realm

I just found this article about Tibetan Buddhist Monks and their sand mandala-making practices. This explains what it means, how, and why it is done. At the bottom of this article is a time-lapse video shot from above the mandala. Please check out the process, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution's, The Torch...http://www.e-torch.org/from-the-secretary/april-2010/

Beauty and Chaos

So I have a blogger friend, someone whom I follow...Laura, on Beauty and Chaos. She's been taking these photos every day, usually of nature, but sometimes she has people. In general she's pretty outdoorsy, and I strongly suspect she's in college studying something science-y and biological. The other day, she took a photo of her slime mold, inside its circular, perti dish home, and I found it to be really cool. (It reminded me of some of my own 365.series watercolors.) And in addition to that, we get a good science-y lesson from her

She named her slime mold Leonard. Click the link, he's so worth it.

p.s. I also updated the blog, with better photos of Moma Luna's first round (the previous post). See the post, and better photos here.

Three Thoughts

Okay, I have the piece and it is photographed and edited! Moma Luna is from Holland, and has started this first mandala round with me. The piece she worked with features an image from one of her previous pieces, Thoughts which is duplicated three times. Three is a magic number, as she has pointed out, and it is a number that is used in Christianity, as well. This is also a variation on one of the classic mandalas, the Triad form, which was mentioned before in this blog. I got a few close-ups of each piece so that you could see the detail a bit more. Moma Luna has duplicated the figure, but has changed them each in minor ways, such as the patterns, and colors. She has also mentioned (in a nice hand-written letter to me) that she used three kinds of paper on this.

Cycle 5, Round 1:

Moma Luna to Shana R. Goetsch

Arnhem, Gelderland, Holland to Milwaukee, WI, USA

On my mandala piece, I went a more simple route (as usual). I was originally wanting to use colored feathers for this, but decided upon magazine papers instead. This is mainly because I had so many laying around in disuse, and I'm a recycler. This shape is the same one used in a mandala that I worked on with Heather Gordy. So basically, I cut out many tiny shapes and then layered and pasted them. The vague patterns/lines on the side were made with rust, they are 'rust prints', technically. And interestingly, Moma Luna and I unknowingly chose the same colored palette to start...

Shana R. Goetsch to Moma Luna

Milwaukee, WI, USA to Arnhem, Gelderland, Holland

Update!

I have received a package from Moma Luna!
The only problem is that I have to pick it up from the post office....on Monday. What a downer, but at least it arrived. I am still worried that she has not received the package from me, on account of the Post Office worker not knowing what to do..."Holland? Is that the Netherlands?" *rolls eyes* "Yes Post Office lady, but despite that fact, her address is still 'Holland', so that's what I will write down." ugh. I spent at least a half an hour in that place, filling out form(s), so I really hope it gets there, or has already gotten there by now.

I also hope that what I have glued down (twice) has stayed glued down on the piece I sent to her. The rolling gave me problems, so I had to reglue. She may also have to reglue, but I truly hope it's not that bad. If it is, I will reglue it again when I get it back, with some kind of clear spackle. I joke, but it will eventually stick, because I'll make it stick.

So, provided that the light is decent, you will get the first round with Moma Luna and me on Monday afternoon...look for it!

Circles in the Swirled

Another documentary about crop circles:

The Geometry of Circles

I remember this one from Sesame Street, when I was little...(music composed by Philip Glass)

Simplicity

I searched for "circle" on youtube. This came up on the first page, so I'm posting it. Who doesn't love The Lion King, huh?



I cheesily, just cried. More collaborative mandala pieces are coming soon, but until then, check out this link. An artists who uses nature as a medium. (sometimes in the shape of a circle)

Mandala Completed!

I have just received images of the second mandala to be completed in this project! If you'll remember, this mandala made an extra trip to and fro...and so when I got it back, I added the hanging device real quick. Artist Heather Gordy has sent along an explanation of what she did for this final round:

"It's painted with acrylics and water soluble crayons. Most of it is painted directly on the linen except for the added beetles. I first sketched the beetle using pencil. Then I scanned the picture and made the beetle into two different sizes and printed it out. I used the water soluble crayons, matte medium and iridescent paint to paint the four beetles. They were then applied on top of the purplely color circles. The entire painted area is finished with a semi gloss acrylic varnish."

Now let's take a look back at this mandala's humble beginnings...


Cycle 2, Round 1:

Shana R. Goetsch to Heather Gordy
Milwaukee, WI to Houston, TX

Cycle 2, Round 2:

Heather Gordy to Shana R. Goetsch
Houston, TX to Milwaukee, WI

Cycle 2, Round 3:

Shana R. Goetsch to Heather Gordy
Milwaukee, WI to Houston, TX

Cycle 2, Round 4:

Heather Gordy and Shana R. Goetsch
Mandala completed in Houston, TX

Completed in Texas...yeehaw!

And the Circle is Complete

The first mandala is finished! This particular mandala, is the one that Heather originally started (part of the intrigue of the deal). What I did to finish, was handled mostly in watercolors. I also managed to find an image of a bird with its mouth open for the center circle (that's a photocopy and acrylic), Really though, it was mostly watercolor work. I really felt that this piece, need not be so afraid of color, so I went with it and drove it hard. Now, let's take a look at the mandala from its inception, shall we?

Cycle 2, Round 1:

Heather Gordy to Shana R. Goetsch
Houston, TX to Milwaukee, WI

Cycle 2, Round 2:

Shana R. Goetsch to Heather Gordy
Milwaukee, WI to Houston, TX

Cycle 2, Round 3:

Heather Gordy to Shana R. Goetsch
Houston TX to Milwaukee, WI

Cycle 2, Round 4:

Shana R. Goetsch and Heather Gordy
Mandala completed in Milwaukee, WI

In your face, Universe!
*triumphant squawk*

Cycle Five Jive

We have a new artist in the fold, and this time, the art really will circle the earth! Momo Luna is from the Netherlands and I know her through the blog world. She has her own blog called Momo Luna Signals where she has quite a few fans (and quite a few post responses that I cannot read, being that they are written in Dutch) and an amazing amount of art, personal thoughts and music.

Momo Luna has sent a few images along, so that we can see some examples of her style. She has noted to me, these are the pieces that are closest to her heart. When asked her primary medium, she wrote, "My primary medium is pencil, ink, watercolours, acrylics, dreams and music."

I think we will get along in this partnership, just fine.

The Beginning

Momo Luna
Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands

Little Girl So Old
Momo Luna
Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands


p.s. You can also bid on an original Momo Luna piece on ebay, right-the-heck now!

Stuck Together For a Moment

Cycle 1, Round 3 (continued):

Wes Way to Shana R. Goetsch

Harrisonburg, Va to Milwaukee, WI


This is Wes' piece, all stuck together, however briefly (it came to me cut-up, and stacked in a package).
Okay, now I am taking this apart again.

Big Wheel Keep on Turnin

Next on the agenda...the Seven Chakras. the word "chakra" come from the Saskrit, meaning "wheel". Elbee has nicely tied in some references, with some coincidence. I always like that combination, for inspirational purposes. Elbee happened to be thinking of ideas for this mandala, saw something that mentioned Chakras, and noticed she was holding seven of these wheel shapes in her hands. How about that!

Said 'wheels' are somewhat heavy, and look like stone or clay, but I think they are a form of plastic...when I tapped them, the sound was more plasticy than elemental. So Elbee glued on seven of these wheels, and armed me with the knowledge of her thought pattern on the Seven Chakras. Again, I will be making this piece slightly larger and square, so that it matches the others' size. Here is her mandala:


Cycle 4, Round 2:

Elbee to Shana R. Goetsch
Tallahassee, FL to Milwaukee, WI

For the piece that I worked on this round, I also attached things. This includes a piece of metal that has been sitting on a table in my living room for, I kid you not, the last 6 years. It's just been waiting for this project, I assume. So I attached it, then I painted a little bit with watercolor, and then I also attached a googly eye. Googly eyes are round and not eye-shaped...seems weird somehow. This particular googly eye happened to be the exact shape/size of the center circle that I covered it with. Another 'meant to be' moment for this round.

Shana R. Goetsch to Elbee
Milwaukee, WI to Tallahassee, FL

All this talk about wheels has made me think of Proud Mary by the fabulous Tina Turner...

Deconstructing the Circle

Wes Way has obliterated the circle. And I am so happy and excited about it. He cut the mandala up into sections, and also added onto each of the pieces with different approaches and medias. I see collage, pen, garbage twist ties and construction paper. I also see WORDS on this mandala...

"We find out who we are by digging through the wreckage of what we thought we would be"

That is so perfect, and it looks like I will, in fact, be "Constructing the Universe". So I'm glad D. just sent me that guide on the topic a few days ago. (whew!) I look forward to assembling this, and will take another photo, and make another post about it when I do. Until then, here is what I received. Wes has a bag full of tricky little tricks...

Cycle 1, Round 3:

Wes Way to Shana R. Goetsch

Harrisonburg, VA to Milwaukee, WI

For my mandala, I sent Wes a variation on the symbol he used the last round. I just duplicated it...many times, and painted a different pattern in the center. After that, I tried to uncrinkle the piece by ironing it, and then I juiced up the color a tinge. The ironing aspect, was so that the crinkly paint pattern would only remain on one side of the mandala, since I left the other side blank, for Wes. I also thought seriously about how it could be hung up, eventually. I'm thinking a tree branch and loops, so that it hangs like a tapestry. Here's what I did...

Cycle 1, Round 3

Shana R. Goetsch to Wes Way
Milwaukee, WI to Harrisonburg, VA

STAY TUNED FOR THE (RE)CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNIVERSE!

Falling Down and Getting Back Up

While the mandala was on its way to me, from Danielle, I received an email from her. I share this with her permission, but I think it illustrates one of the challenges that lie in store for each of the artists working on this series: when to stop....since it's a shared project.

"...you are gonna have to change stuff. i have a hard time with this...i usually work with an idea of a finished piece in my head and this is really painful. not know where it's going or when to stop working....working on the thing, was like i kept falling down but couldn't figure out why.

sorry i fell down on yer project."

(ETA: Let me clarify, that I found this letter to be so cute and humorous, because she had nothing to worry about. Yet it brought up a relevant struggle for artists, 'the letting go'. I think every one of us has had the same thought in our minds, at some point during this process. I know I felt as if I 'fell down' on it during round two with Heather.)

I also received several photocopied packets from D. along in the package. One is called "Animal Speak" and has a lot of information about spiders in it. The other is a packet entitled, "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe" which contains information regarding the Breath of the Compassionate (the universe being formed around it) and eight-fold geometry.

...Grandmother Spider has eight legs, doesn't she? D. is one smart chic.

D. has hand-painted (not airbrushed!) a pattern, of which I assume to be eight-fold geometry, onto the piece she sent me this round. She used gold, which is one of the colors she told me she has been using a lot lately. I went a different route, and used a reductive method on the piece I worked on. I scraped the paint from the wrapping paper in selected areas (no easy task), and added an Egyptian-looking eyeball (it's actually Alicia Key's eyeball) because I felt that the pattern was reminiscent of the lotus flower and other Egyptian symbols. Here we go...

Cycle 3, Round 2:

D. Garzelloni to Shana R. Goetsch
Chicago, IL to Milwaukee, WI

Shana R. Goetsch to D. Garzelloni
Milwaukee, WI to Chicago IL

Circling More Than It Should

So, because of a major mailing snafu, Heather has not received her mandala from me yet. I checked the tracking, and it is getting sent back to me again! (*shakes fist*) This ruins the whole system, U.S. Post Office! Anyway, I still received her piece today, so I will be posting them both now.

Heather has continued the tree motif and filled up the circle. She then added on the few extra inches needed to make the pieces equally sized. The pieces of paper she applied on the edges are torn, rather than cut, and look like they have water based media on them. I am excited to finish this one up. She has still left me with a lot of free reign.

The one that I sent to Heather (which will be re-sent, when I get it back....and they had better not lose it in the meantime.), I think is the best one that I have contributed thus far to this project. I decided on a scarab beetle image (see previous post) because of many references to it being the "creator" in so many cultures and religions. Also, I felt that I needed something with wings, that maybe wasn't a bird also. This is a jeweled scarab, in fact, complete with a ring of dung balls, for her jeweled scarab embryos. In-person, and up-close you can see that I incorporated a metallic, acrylic paint into the beetle shell. I have always loved beetles, and I have one tattooed on my back. This was me infusing a little meaning into the mandala. I hope that whenever Heather actually receives this(!), that she is pleased to finish it up.

Cycle 2, Round 3:

Heather Gordy to Shana R. Goetsch
Houston, TX to Milwaukee, WI

Shana R. Goetsch to Heather Gordy
Milwaukee, WI to Houston, TX

Dung Balls (really)

"The scarab rolls his pellet, and life is born in it as an effect of nondispersed work of spiritual concentration. Now, even in manure an embryo can develop and cast his "terrestrial" skins, why would the dwelling of our celestial heart not be able to generate a body too, if we concentrate our spirit on it?"

-Taoist belief found at insects.org.

dung beetle from Wikipedia Creative Commons

Scarabs/beetles were used as religious symbols in prehistoric Shamanism, Buddhism, Taoism and Judeo-Christianity. They were also found in imagery throughout ancient Egypt, Greece, India, and Iran. One of the basic reasons why I think beetles/scarabs were used so universally, is because of their dung balls. Yes, my whole premise is based on poo....but they roll these balls made out of feces, larger than themselves, and then they implant their little scarab embryos inside for the gestation period. New life out of a ball of refuse, no wonder they are credited with being the creators in most of the above mentioned cultures.



(They don't know it yet, but one of the three mandalas I send this Tuesday will have a scarab/dung ball connection, and the above quote inside the package. Head's up for one of you.)

Please check back late next week for more updates on the progress of these mandalas!

Every One of Them, Unique

Guess what! I received a package today...Elbee and I have exchanged our first mandalas. You will note that sizes and formats are different, for now. I plan to actually keep the square format of the one that Elbee started, and then build upon whatever I get back (it is pictured here as an 8" x 10"). A square format, how did I not think of that before!? Brilliant.

Elbee has started with a thicker stock of paper, and then gently glued a circular "snowflake" pattern on top of it. It's made of tissue paper, which I thought was really delicate and cool. She also placed another circular shape on top of that one. The mandala reminds me of doilies and my grandma Goetsch's house (comforting and warm in the winter).

What I started with, was the back of a mailing package. Really, I was that literal this time 'round. Anyway, I liked that I could not rip off the bubble wrap, it was well-secured. So I flipped it and noticed a blank "canvas" for me to use. I figured that If I made the paper very wet and used watercolors, that the bubble wrap texture would automatically show up, to a degree. Being that they are little circles, I thought it was fun for a background, so I let the color take its time seeping and saturating, Then I placed a heavy jar on top of the wet piece, centrally, so that it would create the indent, or impression of a circle. Now, let the show begin...

Cycle 4, Round 1:

Elbee to Shana R. Goetsch
Tallahassee, FL to Milwaukee, WI

Shana R. Goetsch to Elbee
Milwaukee, WI to Tallahassee, FL

Flocking Together

For lack of a better term, I think Wes and I are the two biggest tree-huggers of the bunch. Natural, why yes we are! Wes has ascribed a particular symbol to this first piece. It's Big Drum in the Sky Religiony. What I like about this most, is the texture showing through with the brushstrokes. The piece that I worked on for Wes this round is slightly changed, color-wise, just a bit more muted than it was before. Then I added some strips of paper (4) that represent each of the elements, earth, air, water and fire.

Cycle 1, Round 2:

Wes Way to Shana R. Goetsch
(Harrisonburg, Va to Milwaukee, WI)

Shana R. Goetsch to Wes Way
(Milwaukee, WI to Harrisonburg, VA)