Mandalas and Sacred Geometry
As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m doing, where my work is, where I’d like my work to go, and what truly motivates me. Don’t get me wrong… I love everything I do. I love creating, I love learning, and I love everything (well, almost everything) I’ve made, But I’m very conscious about not falling into the mindset of needing to produce things simply to sell. I’m not a factory, nor do I ever want to be. Not that I don’t want to sell, but that’s not the driving force behind what I do. However, I’m also aware that it’s what I need to do to keep moving forward.
For the past few months, I’ve been learning about creating tessellations in the style of M.C. Escher. While I’ve always been fascinated by his work, I just haven’t been able to see how it fit into jewelry that I want to make. I kept playing around and studying, and contemplating. Letting everything percolate. About a month ago, I started learning more about mandalas, and I knew this was a direction I needed to explore. Mandala is a Sanskrit word that means “circle” or “center,” often containing repeated geometric shapes, although it can also be more freeform. Many people use mandalas as a form of meditation - letting the creation happen and then looking for meaning in the final image. Our subconscious will often direct us to where we need to be if allowed the freedom to do so.
As I have been reevaluating everything and trying to figure out how to move forward, I was drawn to the process of creating these mandalas. I tend to be quite OCD in my approach to things, and extremely detail oriented. I struggle with drawing because it doesn’t “look like” what I am intending. I want it exact, and I don’t leave room for my own interpretation. But this process is done much more freeform, just letting things develop. It’s difficult to turn my brain off and not have a “plan,” but I’m working on it. During this process, I have been amazed at some of what has been revealed. What I think is going to be turns out to be something very different, and it speaks to me. Shown below are some of the images from my journal. In later blog posts I’ll discuss what the meaning of these are to me, how I interpret them.
As I was working on these, I could just see them reproduced in silver and I began to get really excited. I also realized that to recreate these in metal would take every skill that I’ve learned and then some!
Sacred Geometry
As rabbit holes generally do, the study of mandalas led me to the concept of Sacred Geometry. Sacred Geometry is often referred to as the “architecture of the universe.” These are patterns that have been found throughout the natural world and in cultures across the world through humanity. if mandalas spoke to me, this concept screamed at me. It fits right into my need for order, structure and precision, yet it allows space for creativity. Here are a few examples of these basic patterns from my journal.
The beauty of all of this is that it has deep meaning for me as I create the piece. I think that brings life to a piece that might normally just… be. The real beauty of this work is that the meaning might be different for you. Much like a song that an artist writes - the way you interpret the song might be very different than the artists intent, but it’s no less powerful.
I don’t know where all of this is going to go, but I’m excited to find out. I’ve allowed myself this year to explore and learn. That’s difficult for me since I’ve been so driven to learn and make this business succeed over the past eight years. I have to constantly remind myself that it’s ok to just take time. Time to explore. Time to look inside. Time to create something that is truly alive and has depth.