Page 17 - Priorities #71

MandalaProject
with, combining all of our ideas to design one that represents our lives and beliefs and then finally building the mandala. There were many steps to create this mandala. Now that the final product is done, we are excited to share it with all of you!
Laying out the mandala. A sketch of the proposed mandala. An unexpected team member.
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Our mandala represents life. Every step we took in constructing our mandala represented a new step in life. Through the close up lens, the individual parts of our mandala may seem insignificant, when everything is put together, one beautiful piece of art is created. For the design of our mandala, we first decided to put one bigger rock in the center and then surround that with a variety of leaves. This consists of some cypress leaves along with regular leaves that fell from trees. Those lead to a circle of smaller stones, each a slightly different shape and size. After the stones, we put some pieces of dry grass and pine branches pointing outwards. Our mandala started with a rock in the center, to represent the first stepping stone in life, a step that every person takes. Then we used the leaves to represent how we all take different paths in life but they all lead to the same goal or purpose, which was represented by a circle of stones. When we were young a lot of the goals
that we had were very similar to each other, but as we got older they become more specific and began to differ from others, but all of us have the general goal of fulfillment in mind. Then, using twigs and leaves, we finished the outermost layer of our mandala to represent how many different outcomes there are in life. How some may seem more beautiful than others, but they all are a great end or aspect to life in their own ways.
In conclusion, our mandala-making process was spiritually fulfilling. We spent time in nature, learned about our group members and ideated to build something with a message that was close to our hearts. We overcame challenges, disagreements and the rare occurrence of under-productiveness so that, in the end, we’d have a beautiful piece of art to share with the world.
IN THE CLASSROOM