Crossing Borders

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Comment by Barbara Ann Storrier on June 8, 2009 at 1:40am

Comment by Lin Neiswender on March 27, 2009 at 3:07am

You can do digital sand painting here http://thisissand.com/

Comment by MARY on March 27, 2009 at 1:48am

MANDALA
I've been toying around with making a mandala. I thought it would be good to do in one of my forest retreats. I googled the sand mandala's that the Monks do. There is a video on u-tube of it (not really to exciting to watch). I've thought about buying sand and filling one of those plastic underbed storage thingies to draw mandalas and use as a ginat zen garden. They sell playground sand in colors. There is something very elemental and freeing working with sand.

Comment by Lin Neiswender on February 11, 2009 at 2:34am

Bev, the image was a little bigger than this one. It was taken from a photograph I took of Lacey that I changed to sepia tones. I manually did the sectioning, mirroring and flipping to create the kaleidescope effect. I loved the earth tones of it. It seemed more powerful that way.

Comment by Beverly on February 11, 2009 at 12:50am

Hi Lin,
Lacey's Healing is exquisite. I see women at the edges sitting in a circle. What kind of medium did you use? How big is it? I do believe that mandalas are wonderful art forms for healing. I like your use of just a few colors for this mandala. It has such an otherworldly, ancient feel to it!!!!Wow.....

Comment by Lin Neiswender on February 10, 2009 at 2:38pm

Mr. Crane really was a sculpture, as he hung from my ceiling for years, but he got lost in my last move. Maybe time for another! Perhaps this one might get sprayed with some texture spray to make it look like stone? Here's my favorite mandala, made from a picture of my dog Lacey. I called it Lacey's Healing since what emerged seemed to be a spirit woman. Sadly though, Lacy did not survive but perhaps it was her spirit that was healed.

Another one I made of collage and layers was the Peace 2009 mandala:

This is my favorite Zen story: "Late one night a female Zen adept was carrying water in an old wooden bucket when she happened to glance across the surface of the water and saw the reflection of the moon. As she walked the bucket began to come apart and the bottom of the pail broke through, with the water suddenly disappearing into the soil beneath her feet and the moon's reflection disappearing along with it. In that instant the young woman realized that the moon she had been looking at was just a reflection of the real thing...just as her whole life had been. She turned to look at the moon in all it's silent glory, her mind was ripe, and that was it...Enlightenment."

CHIYONO-- NO MOON, NO WATER

Comment by Anne Westlund on February 10, 2009 at 7:51am

Frank, I wrote 4 poems based on the ideas of the Tao Te Ching for a class on the Tao Te Ching. Love that book!

Comment by Frank on February 10, 2009 at 3:20am

Wherever you go,
the rigid lie low.
While the weightless in the sky,
and all that is gentle,
fly boundlessly high.

from the Tao Te Ching

I have been influenced by the Tao, American Indians, buddhists, hindus, and several American sub-cultures such as hippies, creoles, Californians (marin county), Montanans and of course nearly every ethic culture you can find in Chicago.

Every time I think I have formed my artistic routines, something new comes along to shift me once again. I am open to learning new things and ideas.

Comment by Lin Neiswender on February 9, 2009 at 11:52pm

I don't know that I have any specific cultural traditions, although I like origami personally- I once made a 3-foot crane out of brown paper- and I love making homemade sourdough bread from scratch, no bread machine for me, thank you! Although my starter croaked so I must begin again! I made photo mandalas too, study koans, like to read mythology and folklore, and adore ethnic art and food.

Comment by Barbara Ann Storrier on February 9, 2009 at 9:24pm

Looking forward to some enlightening discussions in this group :)
I've been interested in mandala making recently. There are many cultures that utilize mandalas or medicine wheels in their ceremonies and I find the concept of all that is being within the circle, and coming to center, very calming and relaxing for me. When I'm creating mandalas, thoughts of the people and cultures they come from often enter my meandering monkey mind :)

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