Neil Tetkowski and the Common Ground World Project

The mandala is recognized throughout the world as a symbol of the cosmos as well as unity. Ceramicist Neil Tetkowski organized the creation of a large mandala formed by blending clay and sand submitted from 188 nations around the world. He conceived this collaborative project to represent the unified cooperation of these countries, each a member of the United Nations (UN). The "Common Ground World Mandala Monument" at the United Nations headquarters in New York was part of a performance in April 2000 in which Tetkowski, the Under-Secretary of the United Nations, and representatives from UN countries placed samples of fired clay from each country into the soft clay disk. Preliminary drawings, and another disk made from the world clay were on view at the Burchfield Penney in addition to the maquette mandala and clay samples. Disks and mandalas by Tetkowski from private collectors and the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s collection were also included to contextualize the exhibition. Howard and Leslie Zemsky sponsored the presentation of this touring exhibition at the Burchfield Penney.