thoughts on phase 2...

I'm not quite sure what I want to do with my next project. I am thinking that I might like to maybe make a treasure box. something like the pyramids in Mesoamerica, have 2 stelae to go with it.




This isn't exctly "non-western" because meso-America is in the west, but I feel like the cultures of the Aztec and Incas are so far removed from the norms of our culture, it could maybe be considered non-western. I have been learning about mesoamerica in my art history class and I was really interested in the long count calendar. it is a combination of the 365 day and the 260 day calendars. The way that it is written about is on stelae that date back to about 31 BCE. I definately want to try to make some plaster stelae using the shapes the Olmecs (early Aztec) used to create numbers as well as some new designs of my own which would be influenced by the shapes similar to the Aztec/ Olmecs. I could use stones in mosaic ways in the plaster, stones like the ones found in that area like obsidean and turquoise, and jade, and reds (maybe turquoise and jade-like stones-since they are expensive)

I could also make a box and create a sand mandala inside it. one that reflects the ways of the aztecs/ olmecs.using iconography and patterns and cosmology of their civilization.

I have also been thinking about creating a sculpture, wood,a chiseled piece, hmmm. I think i have too many thoughts.

1. I want to work with the olmec long count calendar
2. I want to evolve the shapes I use to express myself in an Olmec/ Aztec way
3. I want to make a sand mandala as well as some kind of construct to house it.

maybe i should just stick with this.

Mandalas:: the Kalachakra Mandala




Kālachakra (Sanskrit: कालचक्र; IAST: Kālacakra; Tibetan: དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།; Wylie: dus-kyi 'khor-lo) is a bahuvrihi term used in Tantric Buddhism that means "time-wheel" or "time-cycles". It refers both to a Tantric deity (Tib. yidam) of Vajrayana Buddhism and to the philosophies and meditation practices contained within the Kalachakra Tantra and its many commentaries.

I could make one, it would have to be smaller than the ones the monks made. and I could destroy it or burry it. Burying it sounds more like a tradition of the Olmecs. they had most of their sculptures attached to the buildings underneath the ground facing the underworld. also the idea of having the mandala residing within a structure like the pyramid is very Aztec/ Olmec because they beleived that caves were sacred, caves reflect a portal to and from realms of the underworld and where dieties come from. there are 5 dimentions to the Aztec/ Olmecs, NSEW (all represented by the opening of the cave (or pyramid box) and the human figure or the mandala that resides within (5th direction).