Monks begin crafting sand mandala
Posted: Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Tenzin, left, Geshe Kelsang and Geshe Jampa Norbu, Buddhist monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in Mundgod, India, work on a sand mandala Tuesday in the Helen Levitt Art Gallery in Morningside College's Eppley Fine Arts building. The monks will be working on the mandal through Friday. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
After working for four days and spending about 75 to 125 hours creating an intricate sand painting, the artists, six Tibetan Buddhist monks will purposely destroy their work being created on the Morningside College campus on Sunday.
Rick Wollman, a spokesman for the college, said in a news release that the public can watch the monks as they create the mandala from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in the Helen Levitt Art Gallery located in the Eppley Fine Arts Building on the Morningside campus.
The sand mandala is a two-dimensional piece of art work made of powdered and dyed stone, sand, dust, flowers and charcoal.
"The two-dimensional sand mandala is created through a labor-intensive process that involves several monks working to precisely apply colored sand by gently tapping sand-filled metal cones that have had their tips removed," said John Bowitz, professor and chair of the art department at Morningside. "The finished mandala truly is a magnificent work of art in which multi-layered symbolic images, placement and color all have significance," he said.
-- Meagan Sexton
Rick Wollman, a spokesman for the college, said in a news release that the public can watch the monks as they create the mandala from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in the Helen Levitt Art Gallery located in the Eppley Fine Arts Building on the Morningside campus.
The sand mandala is a two-dimensional piece of art work made of powdered and dyed stone, sand, dust, flowers and charcoal.
"The two-dimensional sand mandala is created through a labor-intensive process that involves several monks working to precisely apply colored sand by gently tapping sand-filled metal cones that have had their tips removed," said John Bowitz, professor and chair of the art department at Morningside. "The finished mandala truly is a magnificent work of art in which multi-layered symbolic images, placement and color all have significance," he said.
-- Meagan Sexton
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ER wrote on Sep 3, 2008 8:51 AM: