Lesson 3:  What is color harmony and radial symmetry?

Activity A.  Students will create a mandala, using radial symmetry to draw design and different color harmonies (triadic, split complement, and analogous) to paint design. H.7.2, H.8.2, H.9.1

Materials:  Paper squares that are 10" x 10"”, rulers, protractors, compasses, paint, paint pans, brushes, water. 

Evaluation:  Mandalas will be evaluated according to accuracy of color mixing and neatness.

Mandala:  a study of radial symmetry and color theory                   

The word mandala is an ancient Indian Sanskrit word than means circle.  Mandalas represent wholeness – and can be seen as a model for how life organizes itself.  The mandala appears in celestial circles such as the sun, moon and planets, as well as the idea of circles of friends and communities.  Ancient calendars like Stonehenge in England are a kind of mandala. 

So is the zodiac, which divides the sky into 12 segments of 30 degrees each.  Snowflakes are mandalas, as are flowers, shells, oranges, crystals, solar systems, and spiral galaxies.  Mandalas are especially important in religion, as sacred designs, architecture of temples, stained glass rose windows, halos on religious figures, sacred gardens and mazes.

Lesson Plan

Objective

High-school aged students will learn about mandalas, radial symmetry, and the properties of color – hue, intensity, and value.  They will learn to make their own mandala, exploring personal images.

Materials

Heavy drawing paper, cut to 10” x 10”; pencils, compass, protractor, paint, palettes, brushes.

Time

Four lessons over a two week period, each lesson 1½ hour

Lesson one

Overview of mandalas, slides and visuals

Explain radial symmetry, show examples.  Explain properties of color – hue, intensity, and value.

Show students how to create a 6 radiation mandala.

1.  Find the mid point in your 10” x 10” paper.  Make a dot as in figure A.

2.  Draw a horizontal line that is 9” long as in figure B.  

3.  Place the hole in your protractor over the dot and mark 60° and 120°.   Repeat on the other side of the line.

4.  With a ruler connect opposing 60° and 120° points by drawing two 6” lines as in figure C.

5. 

6.  With ruler connect opposing 30°, 60° and 120° points by drawing 9” lines.  

7.  Use your ruler to mark each line with several dots at regular or irregular intervals ( ½”, ½”, ½” or ¼”, ¾”, 1”).  Mark each line in the same way as in figure E.  

8.  Connect dots with straight lines using ruler or curved lines using compass.  

9.  Paint design using the three properties of color – hue, intensity and value.   

Lesson two

Color theory.  Students will read about color in their textbook and write definitions 
for vocabulary words.
They will use the three primary colors at the center of their design and working 
outwards create secondary 
and intermediate colors, tints and shades, bright and dull hues.

References

Bailey Cunningham, Mandala: Journey to the Center, DK Publishing, Inc., New York, NY, 2002.

Katie Pasquini, Mandala Quilt Designs, Dover Publications, New York, NY, 1983.

Websites

Mandala Project

      an excellent resource, with everything you could ever want to know about mandalas.

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