Using the universally recognized symbol for life, the circle, Anselm creates mandalas from an American Indian perspective generally and from a Navajo perspective specifically. Anselm first creates a circular frame that contains a round hand-painted wooden center from which dowels radiate symbolically outward into the universe. It is here that complex geometric designs, interwoven in vivid colors through the use of various fibers, are created. The radiating dowels allow for the creation of designs that are rooted in the balance of the circle and its natural divisions—the four cardinal directions: East, South, West and North. The radiating dowels also allow the creation of unique patterns using Navajo or other American Indian traditional or contemporary designs and colors. The result of this effort is the creation of an American Indian Mandala, a colorful circular wall hanging that adds to the décor of the home or office. 

Each of Anselm’s American Indian Mandala creations is distinctive in expression of color and geometric patterns. The wooden mandala centers are hand painted with a contemporary representation of the Yei Bichei, the Navajo term for the “Holy People” whose purpose is to maintain or restore Hózhó (everything that is good, harmonious, orderly, and beautiful). In addition to the Navajo Yei (the artistic term and shorten version for Yei Bichei), the American Indian Mandala centers contain other Native American spiritual symbols; for example, the Hopi Dawa (Sun) Kachina who represents the spirit of the sun and who radiates emerging rays down to the earth giving it warmth and life. Each completed American Indian Mandala contains the reoccurring theme that life is filled with minor and/or major challenges symbolized by dark colors, thunderclouds and lightening designs. However, behind every challenge there is the opportunity for a new beginning symbolized by the bright colors that one sees at the dawn of a new day or the rainbow after a rainstorm. 

The completed American Indian Mandala is not only a beautiful and colorful work of art but also serves as a constant reminder that striving to keep one’s inner circle in harmony with the universal circle sets one on the path of achieving Hózhó—harmony and balance.