Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for the Winooski News
Winooski has found a new way to celebrate its diversity and history, with the Mandala Community Weaving project displayed at the Winooski School District offices. It was first announced at the Winooski Fiber Fair last year and unveiled in March. But this isn’t the beginning of the mandala concept.
Originating in Southeast Asia, the mandala has been around for thousands of years, symbolizing interconnectedness. That history resonated with the organizers behind the new mandala in Winooski, including Miriam Block, director at the Winooski Heritage Mill Museum.
After seeing a mandala project at the Maine Mill Museum in Lewiston, Block looked up the artist, hoping to create a similar project in Winooski. That artist would be Sarah Haskell.
The Winooski mandala took a bit of a twist from more traditional pieces. In the center, colors and weavings represent the history of the city. Many Winooski residents are represented by handcrafted dolls. The colorful ribbons draping to the ground of the mandala are littered with messages for future generations to read.
The colors of the wool and felt in the mandala are also significant. The blue center represents the Winooski River; the green layers echo the name Winooski, which means “green (or wild) onion” in Abenaki; the red color mirrors the red bricks that built the mills which are “the foundation of the city,” as Block put it.
The ribbons at the bottom of the mandala gave participants a place to write down their favorite things about Winooski and show future generations what was important to people living in the city today.
Participants also had an opportunity to make dolls that represented themselves, giving residents a greater sense of connection to the place they call home. People find joy in seeing their dolls on display.
This isn’t the first time Haskell has done something like this.
“It’s a perfect combination of ingredients for building community and allowing people to express their individualism within the community,” she said.
To fund the project, Haskell and Block applied for a Spark Connecting Community Grant from the Vermont Community Foundation, a statewide philanthropic organization.
Several components went into weaving the mandala, each with a unique meaning. Participants used wool and felt to symbolize the materials used in historical Winooski mills. At the mill’s peak during World War II, it employed more than 3,000 people, including many immigrants who made woolen textiles for military uniforms and other garments. Block said that it was important not to just connect the people who helped make the mandala, but also to connect them to the roots of the city.
Winooski Superintendent of Schools Wilmer Chavarria said, “I smile every time I walk by the mandala,” even though he also described the mandala as “looking like a scary creature from a horror film.”
The mandala’s placement in the school district offices impacts people. Chavarria said he was “happy to see where it was ultimately installed,” and that the piece “reminds everyone from the start of the power of the collective and the importance of being together.”
Winooski is more diverse than most of Vermont, according to Data USA. Just over 12 percent of Winooski residents were born outside of the United States, compared to 4 percent statewide; and about 23 percent of Winooski’s population identify as BIPOC, compared to about 11 percent statewide.
When talking with recent immigrant families from Bhutan and Nepal, Block said they were “so excited” to participate in the mandala and see the final product.
The Southeast Asian tradition of mandalas also resonated with some Winooski immigrant residents who told Block: “We did this back where we used to live.”