The Spinning Life of a Forty-Five Year Old Woman

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by: mel brewster

Mandala Self-Portrait Design

The Spinning Life of a Forty-Five Year Old Woman

17″ x 14″ / Ink on Paper

This piece was completed for ART 102 (Two-Dimensional Design) at Tacoma Community College in Spring 2024

The Spinning Life of a Forty-Five Year Old Woman

This assignment was to create a mandala-type design using elements that were meaningful to us – a self-portrait of sorts. Our focus was on radial balance, repetition of design elements, and overall composition.

My mandala is made up of: 

-Bees: My name means “Honeybee” and bees have always been kind of my thing. I’m a huge fan of pollinators!

-Whales: I have loved whales since I was in elementary school, and I love to follow along with sightings of whales locally and try to catch up with them.

-Octopus tentacles: Octopuses are the animal that I feel most akin to. If I had to choose a creature other than a human to become, I would become an octopus.

-Root Veggies: these represent my love of gardening. They’re also super yummy!

-Birds nest with three eggs: This represents home and family to me, and that’s why it’s in the very center. Home is very important to me and my family members are my favorite people. I have three kids and that’s why there are three eggs.

-Strawberries and strawberry flowers: These represent nature and the gift economy that nature works out of, which is very important to me. Also, I really love berries!

-Stars: The stars represent imagination/sense of wonder/awe , which is a really key part to what makes me feel most alive and in touch with my own personhood. Also, stars were my late little brother’s thing (he had a big star tattoo on his elbow – and a year after he died, my husband and I got matching star tattoos to honor him).

-Birds: The birds represent my faith/inner peace, and how essential these are for me. I also decided to put the birds in pairs to be like “lovebirds” who take care of the eggs in the nest to represent my marriage and my relationship with my husband (who is still my favorite even after almost twenty-four years of being married).

-Thread: This represents my love of sewing, which I first learned to do from my Grandma when I was about ten, and which I have continued to do since then.

-Paintbrush: This represents my love of art and of painting specifically. Art is one of my very, very, very favorite things. Color is kind of my jam, and since this piece had to be in only black and white, I decided that having paintbrushes was a good way to represent that if I assume that they are just waiting to be dipped into bright colors!

-Toadstools and snails: These little guys represent the Pacific Northwest, where I was born and raised, and where I have spent most of my life. I love it here. 

-Books: The books represent my love of reading and my love of learning in general. The books are open with their pages splayed to show that they are pouring out stories, which is what makes the world go round. Stories come in lots of formats, books and art are two of my favorite formats.

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