Greetings all art eders,
I have been following the mandala thread with great interest and must say
all of the ideas and lessons that have been shared are amazing! It saddens
me so much when being politically correct over shadows learning about other
cultures and art forms! As art educators we have a duty to expose our
students to visual communications. Religious convictions and beliefs are
not corrupted from knowledge or experiences with other cultures; I think
common threads can be found, illustrating the equalities of all peoples.
I teach elementary and use celtic mandalas for a color family review with
fifth graders. I photo copy reproductions of ancient mandalas from a book
(mandalas of the celts by Klaus Holitzka), the kids choose one and -not so
simply- color it in. It gives them a break after some challenging lessons
and is extremly rewarding for them. It goes against my anti coloring book
feelings, but hits all of my learning objectives. The kids are introduced
to mandalas and their existence in many cultures all over the world; the
spiritual significance of mandalas to connect the creator and other viewers
to their higher power via a medatative comtiplation, the sheer beauty and
skill that goes into creating a mandala, color, and radial symmetry.
On one hand I commend parents and students for voicing thier concerns and
strong beliefs, BUT symbols only have power if it is given to them- a
circle is only dangerous if given the power by that student or parent right?
Maybe my isolation in a tiny berkshire town truly has kept me from the
"real world" after all. Thanks for the opportunity to climb up on the soap
box! This list makes me a much stronger teacher! Ali
