Mariah's Biography

Mariah works as a meeting designer, teacher, and visual thinking specialist. She helps clients like non-profit organizations, corporations, and community groups to translate their visions, processes, plans – anything! – into engaging images. Whether she’s listening to a keynote at a large conference or sitting at the table during a small meeting, Mariah captures her clients’ key messages and themes in Visual Records – metaphors, images, and words that she draws in real time. She also loves designing meetings that tap into the wisdom of groups and their ability to think together. Mariah teaches the practice of visual thinking in public and private workshops, building on participants’ innate creativity and desire to communicate effectively. She lives in beautiful Oakland, CA, with her husband and lots of art supplies.

Please contact her at howard.mariah@gmail.com to find out how to bring visuals into your work.

Her clients include: Genentech, Salesforce.com, PepsiCo, Nike, The United Way, GlaxoSmithKlein, AAA, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), The Veteran’s Association, and many more!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Mandalas








For many years now I've enjoyed drawing mandalas, as they portray relationships in a unique way; all the symbols, curves and lines are interconnected just as humans connected to one another and to nature. Creating mandalas is an organic process that develops as the conversation or my own thoughts emerge, most often using symbols and shapes instead of written words. I begin by making a small dot near the center of page, then I slowly draw other dots in a circular pattern that relates to the first dot. I continute to draw without a design in mind or the aid of a ruler. This drawing style came to me early one morning when I was visiting the holy city of Safed, Israel. While wandering around with my sketch book, I noticed a unusually artistic light fixture. I did my best to copy the fixture's intricate design and next thing I knew, a mandala took shape. I haven't been able to stop creating mandalas since that day, almost sixteen years ago. On several occasions I've drawn mandalas for corporate and non-profit organizations as way to represent their conversations, but most of the time, the mandalas live in my sketch books. Feel free to leave me a comment about what you see in the images or tell me how they speak to you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I love these images...

It's no wonder that Carl Jung described them as an archetypal part of every human being; I too draw them all the time.

Mine aren't quite as amazing as yours, though! :-)

beandlive said...

I feel the wholeness! This is what drew me to your work at the NCDD conference in 2006. I hope we are able to work together again.