Here’s a quiz to introduce the magic of Zentangle.
Zentangle is a) a slow meditative form of wrestling; b) a form of eroticism; c) a Gordian knot of spiritual movements; d) an artform allowing everyone and anyone to become an artist with minimal guidance and on their own terms and speed.
The answer, of course, is d.
Recently at the Florence Sylvester Senior Center in Laguna Hills, Nicole Steiman, a self-described “creativity coach,” introduced a curious audience of 18 participants to Zentangle.
It is a line-driven form of drawing, mostly black and white, and composed of geometric or flowing shapes.
For supplies, Zentangle requires little: small squares of thin, lightly textured cardboard called “tiles.” For drawing, a pencil and black Sharpie-type pens, one very fine and another a tad thicker. No erasers—ever.
“There is no such thing as a ‘mistake.’ Something that you think might not work at first, may very well later,” said Steiman, a Certified Zentangle Teacher, or CZT.
And while there’s no scientific evidence, practitioners say creating Zentangles induces calmness and relaxation, along with emotional self-satisfaction after finishing a project.
“You can Zentangle anywhere – at the doctor’s or dentist’s office, anywhere where you’d otherwise find outdated magazines and boring TV programs,” Steiman said.
To help students get started, Steiman distributed Zentangle warmup sheets illustrating basic shapes.
Then, standing before a whiteboard, she instructed the students to divide their small pieces of paper into random spaces – some larger, some smaller, some defined by wavy flowing lines, others more conventionally shaped like ovals and squares.
Steiman demonstrated drawing round orbs, a basic Zentangle shape, but stressed that she was only a guide in a process. Students were to engage with their own creative juices.
Hence, imagine a larger oval space filled with smaller orbs – some are filled completely with black ink, others with fine lines, and still others are left empty.
Another space might be filled with fine lines forming squares and rectangles or half-circles, and yet another with all of the above.
There is no up or down, Steiman said. Squares can be turned every which way, and several filled tiles can be assembled into larger mosaics.
Steiman’s only stylistic admonition is that lines are not to cross, so as not to alter the originally intended visual illusion.
“We take a lot of spaces for granted, but filling them makes us aware of them,” she said.
Awareness, after all, lies at the root of the exercise – Zen. It’s slow and meditative, carefully applied, but not overthought. Planning of spaces and careful selection and creation of shapes and auras set the technique apart from mindless doodling on napkins or notebook margins.
“Love your lines as they are,” Steiman advised. “Draw slowly. Meaningful things take time.”
Steiman has owned what she called an art bar in Santa Ana where she taught students to make art in a meditative form rather than following established rules for working in select mediums.
“My aim was to awaken students’ creativity, to express themselves, and also discover the healing aspects of art,” she said. “We all have a little artist inside of us.”
The pandemic ended that enterprise, but now Steiman puts teaching into practice again, using what she learned in Boston, where she received her certification in 2012 from the founders of the Zentangle Method, Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.
“I was in the first group to get certified,” she noted.
Student Janani Theresa Tatch, who was clad in Indian-inspired attire and makeup, said she can meditate while creating Zentangles.
“I am usually free flowing, but this is a bit more intense,” she said.
Irma Weaver was just enjoying the class, she said.
“I took a sketching class for the first time, before Covid, so I wanted to try my hand at this,” she said.
Karen Koenigs appeared to put Zentangle’s calming effect to an unexpected test. While sketching lines, her fluffy white service dog, Zoe, sat calmly in her lap.
It was difficult to gauge what previous level of artistry students were. What was certain was that when making Zentangles, everyone was a beginner.
But, as the method principle implies—it doesn’t matter. Everyone is an artist.
To find out more about the Zentangle and how to become a Certified Zentangle Teacher, go to zentangle.com.
The Florence Sylvester Senior Center in Laguna Hills offers monthly Zentangle classes. The next one is Wednesday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m. The fee is $5, and reservations are required. Call the center at 949-380-0155.
