Peace Mandala Project - Drumming and Art Program - ArtSpirit Info

Our New Community Project, The Peace Mandala


ArtSpirit is a 501-c-3 organization dedicated to the use of the arts as a healing tool for individuals and communities.

The ArtSpirit Peace Mandala is a community arts program. The participants are led through a process oriented arts workshop focused on union of opposites and inner peace. They create 14 inch mandala drawings on this theme which are then arranged into a collective group mandala that forms a community icon of peace. In some cases the mandala workshop can be the starting place for an ongoing arts program focused on  strengthening positive identity and the resolution of conflict.

ArtSpirit's vision is that the collective mandalas will be exhibited and eventually installed as a mural dedicated to peace.

The Peace Mandala Art Installation will be made up of art from the following communities:

• Religious organizations
  
  
• Arts organizations
  
  
• International organizations
  
  
• Organizations of Hope

We have created this project to bring awareness of and visual presence to the many voices of those who want peace in the world. ArtSpirit's goal is to have Phase One of the Peace Mandala completed in 2005, in which three hundred drawings will have been collected and mounted in a redesigned website. Phase Two, to be completed in 2006 is to have the complete Peace Mandala well underway and plans for the installation site in progress. Phase Three will be the actual installation of the piece, the location of which is yet to be determined. Some suggested locations are: World Trade Center Memorial, United Nations, international airports, rail stations. This expression through art of the many participants' combined spirit and visions for peace will be a powerful statement and a contribution toward our shared hopes for peace worldwide. This is a community project and ArtSpirit appreciates feedback and support. Please contact us if your organization would like to participate in the project or house the installation.

We invite you to become an active part of this exciting Peace Mandala project:

• Join one of our workshops
  
  
• Sponsor a workshop
  
  
• Become a sponsor for the installation
  

About ArtSpirit's Peace Mandala Workshops


The ArtSpirit Peace Mandala project gives participants a unique opportunity to create visual images of peace and unity. It combines elements of other ArtSpirit programs to offer an inspiring experience for everyone in the group.

Our art-making workshops are organized for five to twenty people. The process we introduce uses guided meditation, vocal expression and rhythm to help participants reflect on their central values and conceptions of peace and to give visual expression to their insights. Each participant is encouraged to create a peace mandala and to write a short comment about his or her experience of the process.

Individual mandalas will be arranged in a single mandala from each workshop and posted on the ArtSpirit website. Visitors to our website can view the group mandalas as well as the individual mandalas and follow our progress toward the final design.

The Inspiration for the Peace Mandala Project


The idea for the ArtSpirit Peace Mandala grew out of a retirement dinner held in 1999 for Father Luis Dolan C.P., who had served as liaison to the United Nations for the Temple of Understanding, an international interfaith organization. In an effort to create an appropriate award for Father Dolan, ArtSpirit founder Marion Williams worked with the artist Kendall Henry on the design of a peace mandala.

This mandala, executed by Mr. Henry, was awarded to Father Dolan "in recognition of his pioneering vision in the field of interfaith work and his lifelong commitment to international peacemaking." Later that year, while studying in the creative arts therapy program at the New School for Social Research, Ms. Williams delved into the study of mandalas in a class taught by art therapist and psychoanalyst Annette Vaccaro. With the mandala awarded to Father Dolan fresh in her mind, and inspired by her studies of the art form, she developed the idea for a collective arts project that would promote peace and form community through the use of the mandala form.

About Mandalas


The circular form of the mandala creates an environment in which one easily finds and inhabits the center. For this reason, many people use mandalas in their own personal art-making practices to gain a glimpse of their inner self and to illustrate their road to spiritual integration. This is also why mandalas are often used in art therapy.

Mandalas - A Universal Language of Art


Mandalas have been used throughout history by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and others to reflect inclusiveness and spiritual integrity. This art form has traditionally represented wholeness, completion and the union of opposites. The following are interesting examples of how mandalas encompass spirit:


A Buddhist Medium
The mandala form was developed as a vehicle for Buddhist teaching, initiation and rituals. There are many traditional Buddhist mandala forms, which may be seen in museums and temples around the world. You may wish to visit the Asia Society, Tibet House or The Rubin Museum of Art websites through our links page.

A Christian Journey
Christians also have used the mandala form to represent wholeness and spiritual journey. Some examples of this are The Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral and The Rose Windows found in many churches. One of the best known makers of mandalas is the visionary nun Hildegarde von Bingan.

The Subway Mandalas
There are many contemporary secular uses of the mandala form. Perhaps one of the most visible was recently installed at the 86th Street Subway Station in New York City. The station's murals display the work of artist and author Peter Sis. These highly visible examples of the mandala form created with great imagination. One mural features the center of an eye.

Mandalas as Process


This Wiccan Sand Mandala was created by a Wiccan coven and uses Jungian symbolism, references the four elements and was made out of sand.