The #coronamandala Project: Nan Doolitle

Expressive arts practitioner and community advocate Nan Doolitle (Ellensburg, Washington state, USA) proposes the following project of art creation and art sharing, which she terms "#coronamandala". She writes:

During this time of hunkering and abiding, we have the opportunity to express and share our, “soul’s-eye” view of events via the form and meaning of mandalas. From prehistoric circular petroglyphs to Tibetan mandalas, to Navajo sand paintings, the mandala has marked time and place in historic events, ceremonial structure, and dreaming.
          
A mandala is a circle that is at once a container and a sphere of unity and wholeness. Throughout the world, circles are found in every culture. Within these circles, we advertise our businesses, promise our love, shape our boundaries, and create our mythologies. A mandala is a  “palace that contains a divinity” (SF Museum of Asian Art).

Alissa Eckert, Dan Higgins/ CDC

A few weeks ago, I looked at the CDC's depiction of a coronavirus cell, and saw a mandala.

Then, I looked up the image for a T cell, our immune system’s “warrior” response to respiratory coronaviruses.

Both of these cells are storytellers. They can represent darkness and light.  When I look at the cornonavirus cell, sometimes I see bouquets of roses or, a crown of thorns. These crown-like projections give the cell its name, and latch on to other cells.

T-cell

We can share our stories during this time of quarantine via mandalas that we create by ourselves or with family members we live with.

Creating mandalas offers focus, mindfulness, wholeness, intention, meditation, and unity. Mandalas are our storytellers.

Supplies for creating mandalas can include:

• Paper or other receptive medium
• Pencils, crayons, colored pencils, pastels, colored chalk (for sidewalks!), paint (watercolor, tempera, oil, acrylic), natural and found objects (leaves, stones, bark, metal, feathers, buttons, etc.), collage materials (photos, magazines, yarn, beads).
• Compass (drawing instrument), or circular plate or bowl.
• Ruler
• Eraser, if desired
• Glue, if needed

Starting out:

• Create a circle of any size.
• Draw a center dot (the, “sacred center”), if desired. From here, you can create symmetrical circles and angles with compass and ruler. 
• Or, freely draw what emerges within the circle.  Inspiration and fluidity are okay!
• Create your mandala in silence, accompanied by music, or outside to the sounds of nature.
• Consider family mandalas: how has the pandemic affected family members, how are you coping and reflecting, what brings sadness, joy, and meaning, what are your prayers and dreams.

Nan's mandala in a garden (photo by Nan Doolitle)

To share corona mandalas:

Post to #coronamandala on Facebook

Or, send to me through email.

Please include in your emailed message to me the following note, "I affirm the attached is my original work and give permission for this image to be shared on line, for non-profit purposes, by the #coronamandala project and through the Art Beyond Quarantine site. " Please share any other information you would like us to know about your corona mandala

Some mandalas may be posted on:  https://artbeyondquarantine.blogspot.com/ 

 --Nan Doolitle

"Art Beyond Quarantine" is a collaborative blog space devoted to (a) encouraging, documenting and reflecting upon artistic responses to the Covid-19 crisis worldwide; and, (b) exploring art works from the past that speak to our current moment. Through shared dialogue about art as social practice, we seek to promote compassion, social justice, and global solidarity at this challenging period.