Sue Norman's 'sandalas' on Adelaide's Brighton beach blend art and therapy; seen around world on social media

Artist Sue Norman took on creating mandalas – or sandalas – on Adelaide's Brighton beach to express her combining of art and therapy. Among the hundreds she drew on the beach were those marking special occasions such as Anzac Day 2024 (at left). 

Sue Norman used Adelaide’s Brighton beach as a meditative exercise to create hundreds of 14-metres wide mandalas – or sandalas –  that grabbed worldwide social media attention.

Norman's image-making talent was self evolved. She won art competition as a child and, as a teenager, sold charcoal sketches of pet dogs, before getting a job at 17, straight from school, in the art department of John Martin’s department store in Adelaide city.

Learning art on the job, Norman became head artist at Golden Breed progressive graphic design studios, exploring new techniques. She extended her skills in other directions by joining the Army Reserves. Married at 21, Norman left working three years later to concentrate on her own children  – and others’ as a Girl Guides leader.

With her children at school, Norman added an art studio and a room, where she ran mediation sessions, at home. She became head artist illustrating children's stories for Contagious Magazine directed at primary schools. She ran specialised art classes in schools which included painting murals with the students in schools and community centres. In her late twenties, Norman wrote and illustrated Bungy and the Bunyips. While not published, its story and characters came to life on the Festival Theatre stage through the Junior South Australian Ballet. Hungry Jacks also made the Bunyips and the first Australian characters for a nationwide kids meal.

By 30, Norman was trying watercolours with her graphic design skills for images of Australian rainforests and birdlife that sold well nationally. After her marriage ended in her late forties, Norman blended her creative side with self discovery and gained a diploma in counselling. This led to working in schools as an art therapist. At 56, Norman took a big leap and moved to New Zealand. After two years, her urge to paint was revived.

Norman returned to Adelaide and living by the beach at Brighton. Here, watching the tides recede and leaving a large canvas of smooth glistening sand, brought on an “artistic” rush and she began doodling in the sand with a stick. The beach sandalas, spontaneous and unplanned, became bigger and more frequent from there. They began attracting crowds and Norman was “gifting one a week to the community” while getting wider social media attention.  

When the Covid pandemic arrived in 2020, and for the three years afterwards, Norman began creating five sandalas a week in response to commissions from all over the world from families wanting to send videos of them as gifts to others on special occasions. The donations from these gift sandalas financilally supported Norman while her art therapy classes were suspended.

Norman began creating mandala workshops on the beach for families and adult classes to open creativity and manage stress. She also started working in schools again, this time using the mandalas as her main art therapy tool.