Reflecting on your work can increase performance and learning.
Particularly at the end of a project, semester, or year, it is good to take some time to reflect and right down your thoughts about the work you did. What did you accomplish? What did not go the way you wanted it to? What will you do differently if you find yourself in a similar circumstance again?
Some cultures build reflection into their daily practice, such as Buddhist meditation and Tibetan mandalas. Mandala is sanskrit and literally means “container of essence”. Traditionally made of sand, mandalas are “painted”, meditated on, and then destroyed to remind their creators that all life is temporary. Similar designs can be found in Native American pottery and black metal art.
Design and make a Mandala with the subject of it being you at your current stage in life; your likes, interests, and a general reflection of yourself. This project is a culminating project, bringing together all the kinds of work you have done this semester; thorough planning or use of design principle concepts with thumbnail sketches, drawing, a color scheme, and careful crafting of the image.
Reference Artists:
- Marina Abramovic
- Richard Long
- Andy Goldsworthy
- Cyriak
Assignment:
Create a digital collage that takes form of radially symmetrical fractal mandala.
- Include organic selections from at least 10 different images (no rectangular image selections).
- Image size should be 1920px X 1920px (square).
- Print your image in color on 11″ X 17 paper and trim it to be an 11″ square (This will be turned in during class).
- Do not include text.
- Your mandala may be circular, square, or another shape, but consider how you can activate the negative space around it. Do not leave a white / blank background. Mandalas should be radially symmetrical.
- Be conscious of the design principles and visual elements, gestalt matters.
- Include references/reflections/metaphors for your current status in life/identity.
- You may use Photoshop and/or Illustrator.
