Mandala Artist Statment
Mandala means “circle” in Sanskrit and circles have been a symbol of spirituality for centuries. Mandalas have been used as a focus for meditation and in some traditions last only as long as it takes the artist to complete one. For me, drawing the intricate lace of a Mandala is a spiritual process that allows me to order my thoughts, much like meditation, as I order the lines of my pen. My drawings are about the chaos of life and the ways in which we try to restore order. The medium of pen and ink allows mistakes to happen, a reminder that nothing is perfect, even if I would like it to be. I like to think of the mistakes as chaos peeking through the otherwise orderly world I’ve created. The drawings are done completely free hand because, even though I am trying to pull order out of chaos I am also trying to retain a little bit of spontaneity and the unexpected. Life needs a balance of both the stable and the chaotic to be well rounded.
