Drawing Symbols of Identity and The Magic of Glass

Our plan

My “Mandala Identity Project” was introduced to Vancouver’s Charles Dickens School as an expressive vehicle for students’ personal and cultural identity. Prior to this mandala project Dickens’ students created 45 self-portraits with me at their original school. This developed from work at Ecole Victor Brodeur (a new “green” school) in Victoria where participants created 475 faux glass portraits resembling my own kiln-formed, art-glass exhibition portraits. Based on the success of the original mini workshops in Vancouver, Dickens school invited me back to create a permanent installation celebrating multicultural diversity by creating a permanent installation with my chosen theme of mandalas. Students' symbolism, interpreted onto their faux glass artworks with technical help, resulted in unique and beautiful jewel-like creations. Happily, the aesthetic and design values of their music teacher, Paul Nicholls, reinforced mine. Whether communicating through music, dance, or visual arts, we shared a common international language of design. Together we were all practicing that language. With music teacher Paul Nicholls, we produced a motivating Power Point presenting an overview demonstrating how mandalas were made worldwide, past and present. Then, we had students collect symbols from their own and their parents' cultures of origin and present them in their own Power Point presentations. We taught students basic graphic drawing techniques to gain ability and confidence in crafting their visual concepts. We introduced students to elements and principles of color theory (e.g. color harmony) related to the symbols of mandalas and their meaning. We walked students through specific methods enabling them to create their mandala form, which would incorporate personal cultural symbolism and identity. We assembled individual completed mandalas made of acetates sandwiched between two sheets of six inch squares of Plexiglas. And we worked with parents, teachers and administrators to assemble and hang the completed installation of students' faux-glass, jewel–like mandalas.

What we did

During the Power Point presentations students were inspired. Alejandro, one of the students, responded powerfully to the Mayan calendar mandala. Amrita mentioned her amazement at Tibetan monks creating enormous detailed sand mandalas and subsequently destroying their creations with one sweep of the hand to teach the ‘lesson of impermanence’. While researching, kids discovered their cultural symbols such as flags, plants, flowers and heraldry. During drawing sessions, some sophisticated graphic art techniques were learned. Jenny, from a Vietnamese speaking family, used a lotus form to successfully apply these techniques, and crafted a beautiful work. I then worked with individuals photocopying their drawings onto acetates. After a color theory workshop, individuals completed unique, vibrantly colored mandalas. Volunteer parents worked tirelessly assembling the acetates between sheets of Plexiglas. I then mapped out the installation, and linked the individual works with fishing line and metal. They were ready for exhibition this November.