Wendy & David
Ellsworth

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MANDALAS
Wendy Ellsworth, Jan 16, 2014

The word Mandala comes from the ancient Sanskrit language of India and can be translated as meaning “circle, center, or circumference”.
 I began making beaded mandalas in 1970 when I first began working with beads.
These were stitched onto leather handbags I made by hand and became the focal point of each purse.
The early designs were geometric patterns that radiated outward from a single central bead.

During the summer of 2013, in preparation for our two-person exhibition (“Ellsworth & Ellsworth”) at the Jenkins Arboretum, Devon, PA,
my husband David and I decided to collaborate on a series of new mandalas.
Our intention was to create a circle within a circle, a co-joining of my beadwork with his woodturning.
Since both beading and woodturning involve centering techniques,
we felt that our two mediums would support and balance each other in the final pieces.

Inspired by the location of our exhibition, I decided to make 3-dimensional flowers
that I beaded petal-by-petal and stitched onto a leather background stretched tightly on an embroidery hoop.
Taken off the hoop, the beadwork was glued onto a small turned wooden disc
that was then inserted into the large oak mandalas turned by David on his lathe.

They are designed to hang on a wall and thus become objects of contemplation and enjoyment.