The mandala is an ancient art form...a circle in which images are painted utilizing an awesome variety of artistic media.
I like the mandala as an art structure. The traditional shape of a painting or two-dimensional artwork is rectangular - sometimes square. However, there are occasions when the circle is used to contain the images. A favorite example of mine is The Adoration of the Child, about 1500, by Sandro Botticelli.
Taken as an intellectual exercise, I like the idea of confining an artwork within a circle. Somehow the circle seems much more challenging than a rectangle. I have a series of drawings that have as their subject, the tree. Some of them are just one tree, some have several trees. All are stylized or abstracted - I consider myself to be an abstract colorist - and the challenge is to confine these trees within the circle. Imagine thick trunks with rippling roots fighting their way around the circle looking for depth. Imagine the broad leaf heads vying with the sun or moon within the circle for space and prominence. An interesting artistic challenge.
Now imagine these images done not in paint - oils, watercolors or acrylics - but in mosaic tiles.
I have found a supplier of wooden plates [of which I'll blog about at a future time], and a supplier of very tiny tiles [again, a subject of a future post] that I'm going to use to produce this series of tree mandalas. All my years of art study and experience is coming together in this one art expression. As this blog develops and as I complete these works, I will post photos and descriptions here and have them available for sale...as well as through art shows in my local area next year. My older daughter [I have two] is also a mosaic artist and I hope to feature her work on occasion. She works in glass and other mixed mosaic media. My mosaic work will be strictly tiny ceramic tiles.
Here's a hint, a photo of the first plate in progress - the plate itself is 12" in diameter; this particular design features one tree, heavily stylized, wrapped around a setting sun:
Comments