To celebrate Asian Heritage Month, the Rowan University Department of Geology collaborated with the Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum to bring an artistic perspective to Losang Samten’s sand mandala creation, which took place last week in Discovery Hall.

The art gallery exhibit featured Samten’s past mandalas, alongside Buddhist thangkas, courtesy of Geology Department Chair, Harold Connolly. 

Geology and Buddhism have a lot more in common than it might seem at first glance. The interdisciplinary collaboration was a way to show students how science, art, and philosophy can all function in conjunction with one another for this exhibit.

“Having a short term display here enabled us to just expand awareness about the project that was going on, but also how it ties into an artistic practice,” said Mary Salvante, Rowan’s Director and Chief Curator of Rowan University’s Gallery and Museum.

The display of artwork in the gallery was shown alongside the current exhibition, “The People Who Could Fly,” by Lavett Ballard. One thing that Salvante noticed in gallery viewers was the connections they were making between the two exhibits.

“When we put up the Himalayan work, the details and the imagery and the thangkas… actually related back to Lavett’s artwork with the layering of imagery that she was doing on her wood panels and on her fences,” Salvante said. 

The artwork, and the exhibit at large was a way to show students how the earth plays a part in not only where we live, but how we live and communicate. 

“It’s all a very careful relationship between art, culture and the earth, and that’s what I want people to come away with, thinking, How beautiful is this? And how it depends on some level on Earth,” said Connolly. 

Geology and the earth also symbolize impermanence, one of Buddhism’s foundational teachings, it is the idea that everything we experience and everything that is, is not permanent including ourselves. The sand mandala is an expression of this as well, when the sand is wiped away at the end– it symbolizes the monk’s detachment from the work he created.

“Geology is the ultimate teacher of impermanence, which is a major, major part of Buddhism, right? Cause and Effect, impermanence, these are basic tenets of Buddhism,” said Connolly.

When it comes to the planet, our environment is changing every day, and will only continue to do so. 

“66 million years ago, there were a bunch of dinosaurs hanging out, having a good day here in North America, and all of a sudden, boom, they weren’t there anymore,” said Connolly.

Interdisciplinary exhibits, like this one are a reminder for students to expand past their “bubble” in what they’re studying and learn from other majors and industries. 

“Nobody lives in a vacuum in their own discipline. You often hear stem versus non stem. Okay, come on. You know, there are all kinds of courses that were influential, no matter what you are,” said Connolly.

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