Dec 19: Seed Mandala

Back in the day

Albuquerque’s Open Space division used to put on a winter solstice event each year at their visitor center.¹ If I remember correctly, they’d use chalk to sketch out a large circle with a bird (or birds) in it. At a designated time, random members of the public would show up and start filling the circle with seeds, corn kernels, and other colorful foods that Open Space provided.

It was a rather whimsical and freeform public art project that often changed from one moment to the next. You might fill a bird’s eye with a rock, and I might come along later and decide a gourd would work better.² Except for the basic outline of the seed mandala, most of its design was improvised by whoever happened to be working in each specific area.

Folks of all ages would show up for the event. Kids, being a bit closer to the ground than the rest of us, were often the really heavy hitters.

There’s a little tower at the visitor center from which one can see the completed mandala.

One year I went back a few days later to see how much of it was left. I could still kinda sorta see the outline but that was about it. The migrating birds had apparently eaten quite well that week.

1. Before our lives were circumscribed by COVID, the event always took place on the Sunday before the solstice.

2. Actually I would never do that, because I was always too busy taking photos of what everyone else created.