ART@BTI: Botanical Mandalas by Daniel McPheeters

ART@BTI is pleased to present the botanical mandalas of Daniel McPheeters, now on display at Boyce Thompson Institute, in the atrium and on the second floor, 533 Tower Road, Cornell campus, Ithaca, NY, 14853.

The public and the BTI community are invited to attend a reception to be held Wednesday, September 16, from 5-7 PM. Both McPheeters and Cornell plant biologist Michael Scanlon will present short talks, from artistic and scientific perspectives.

McPheeters writes:
“I have always been fascinated by patterns and symmetries, particularly the mandala. There is something about the mandala form that draws the eye to its inherent beauty while centering and focusing themind. As an avid gardener, I love the natural forms of flowers and foliage. In them I see the beauty of patterns and symmetries as well.

As an artist, I have worked in different media, particularly digital collage. The ability to manipulate images on the computer has given me the tools to create lovely mandala art. I take hundreds of pictures of flowers and foliage from many gardens and pick out the ones that have the most interesting structure. From these I take a wedge-shaped segment and repeat the pattern in a circle. I use calculations that are exact to the single pixel. This results in an intricate and seamless mandala.

While all of these botanical mandalas are lovely, I select only a few of them that have designs that inspire me and suggest an artistic theme. I then use the botanical mandala as a canvas and weave in my own imagery. Unlike most other collage artists that incorporate other’s images, I have given myself the personal challenge of using only my own photographs, paintings, and drawings in my works.