Mandalas in Wood
Daniel Antes and Eileen Bradley have never met face-to-face, yet together they produce exquisite works of visual art, intricate wood medallions that find application as table tops, wall art or custom inlayed wood floors. Each piece features many hundreds of precisely cut and routered fragments of wood carefully nested together in an elaborate pattern.
Antes, co-founder of Distinctive Hardwood Floors located in Nashville, Indiana, and Bradley of Sacred Circle Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, met online a decade ago. "When I first saw her mandalas, I said to myself, 'I want to be able to make that in wood,'" Antes said. Thus began their collaboration of turning Bradley's mandala designs into wood medallions.
Bradley's artwork embodies the notion that we are interconnected with all things; we are simultaneously one and the whole. Mandalas – geometric symbols that originated with Hinduism and Buddhism – are symbolic of this concept.
Armed with only a compass, trammel and ruler, she creates mandala designs by hand, utilizing geometry, symmetry, repetitive designs, and symbolism. "The purpose of these sacred circles is to quiet the mind and open the heart," she says. "Through my art, it is my intention to help people find their way to their core, their heart, their truth."
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Frequently asked questions
Who created the wood mandala medallions featured in the article?+
The medallions are a collaboration between Daniel Antes, co-founder of Distinctive Hardwood Floors in Nashville, Indiana, and Eileen Bradley of Sacred Circle Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They met online a decade ago and have never met face-to-face.
What applications are the wood mandala medallions used for?+
The medallions are used as table tops, wall art, and custom inlayed wood floors. Each piece features hundreds of precisely cut and routered wood fragments nested into elaborate patterns.
How does Eileen Bradley design her mandalas?+
Bradley creates her mandala designs by hand using only a compass, trammel, and ruler. Her process relies on geometry, symmetry, repetitive designs, and symbolism.
What is the symbolic meaning behind mandalas?+
Mandalas are geometric symbols originating in Hinduism and Buddhism that represent the idea that all things are interconnected—that we are simultaneously one and the whole. Bradley intends her sacred circles to quiet the mind and open the heart.
How did the collaboration between Daniel Antes and Eileen Bradley begin?+
The two met online about a decade ago. When Antes first saw Bradley's mandalas, he wanted to reproduce them in wood, which sparked their ongoing collaboration translating her designs into wood medallions.