Saturday, March 24th
1-4 p.m.
Thangka painting demonstration by Tibetan thangka master, Tashi Dhargyal at Open Secret Bookstore
While many of us are familiar with thangka art, we have never seen the painting process.
Please join master artist, Tashi Dhargyal, at Open Secret for a live demonstration. Tashi will be painting that day, and also have samples of his mineral pigments, glues, and several canvasses, to show the process of creating a thangka.
For centuries the rich art of Tibet was influenced by its neighbors, India and China. Menlha Dhondup introduced the first original Tibetan painting style in the 1500s. The later styles reflected his work, thus establishing the Menris tradition throughout Tibet. It is characterized by clear outlines, strong colors, fine shadings, and its accentuations in gold.
Tashi has trained and painted for over 15 years. For the past four years, he was the artist-in-residence at the Ganden Monastery in Dharamsala. He is both a master thangka painter and craftsman -- painting and decorating statues both for the Monastery and private customers. He currently lives in San Francisco and works closely with his studio in India.
Tashi has traveled throughout India to work in monasteries to restore and decorate statues.
Tashi has been integral in the Tibetan art community. He studied under the late Ven, Sangye Yeshi, whom His Holiness the Dalai Lama personally invited to reactivate the long and rich tradition of thangka painting in Dharamsala by opening a school at the Tibetan Library of Works and Archives. When this first school was shut, due to restructuring of the Library buildings, Tashi worked with his teacher to start the Institute of Tibetan Thangka Art. Through his initiative, the ITTA was started, and staffed with the best teachers.
Tashi has shown his works along with his ITTA contemporaries at the Tibet House in New Delhi, at the Museum at His Holiness’ the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamsala, and at the Tibet House in New York. His thangka were featured art on TLC's series New York Ink, and through Fall 2011, his work is on exhibit at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, as well as at Invisible NYC Gallery in New York's Lower East Side. He teaches weekly classes at his studio in San Francisco. Www.TashiDhargyal.com
