In celebration of International Dot Day, all classes will create different types of "Dot Art." Fifth and sixth grade artists will create circular artwork called Mandalas.
Mandalas are created in many cultures as a support for meditation. They can be drawings or painted or made from sand.
What is a Mandala?
The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.
(from The Mandala Project)
Mandalas have Radial Symmetry: the condition of having similar parts regularly arranged around a central axis
Examples of Mandalas:
Video of the Dali Lama creating a Sand Mandala
