Mandalas

Digital Art

By Ms. Chavez’s Art Students

A mandala (meaning ‘circle’) is a spiritual and/or ritual geometric configuration of symbols in the Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or Japanese religion of Shintoism representing deities, or in the case of Shintoism, paradises, kami or actual shrines.

In modern, typically American use, ‘mandala’ has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos, metaphysically or symbolically; —a cosmic diagram that shows us our relation to the infinite, the world that extends beyond and within our minds and bodies.

The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T.  Mandalas usually have radial balance.

Mandalas can be used for focusing one’s attention or as a spiritual guidance tool. Some believe that staring at one will help you meditate better or induce a trance.

How did we make them in Photoshop or Pixlr? On paper, students made 1/8th of the circle inside a triangle. They did this in pencil and then went over it with black pen. Next, the triangles were scanned and uploaded to google classroom, where students opened them in photoshop. Students spent most of their time (about 5 hours) coloring in all the details inside that one triangle. When completed, the image was copied and pasted 7 more times. Each triangle was then moved to line up with the next. Because mandalas aren’t just circular in design, but have radial balance, every other triangle had to be flipped horizontally to make it the exact opposite from the one next to it. If we did not flip the section, it is unlikely it could be used for meditative purposes, as the mind would not be calm. It would know it was not perfectly balanced.