a land of Tibet

A Land of Tibet

August 2005

Back in the studio where we can see the lotus blossoms, the printing block resting on the bench and the loom. The drawings for our a land of Tibet are on the bench. I've put them on a roll to make them easier move out of the way of the clay work . There was a lot involved with these. I'll tell more of this later. Let's look at what's under the bags!

Here's the beginning of the piece. I thought it would be neat to create a sculpture of Tibet with Tara Drolma above looking down toward Lake Yamdrok Yutso! I'll bring us a quick drawing a bit later I came up with that sort of shows the concept. Of course she could be any of the Goddess protectoresses of Tibet! I thought of this would be more of a shamanic emotional landscape that both embodied the essence of Tibet and the terrible times the Tibetan people are enduring rather than some uninteresting cartography! I should explain this. I was thinking about the height of the mountains compared with the actual extent of Tibet and came to the realization that the earth's surface is much wider than tall. It then becomes a bit of a challenge to sit about trying to put in a lot of what amounts little more than unexciting surface texture. It would be something of a boring cartographic exercise rather than than what was intended. Initially I was a bit more enthusiastic about the sculpture since it looked a lot better than the big glop of clay that was first there! In retrospect it needs lots of work but the basic structure is in place. I'm using the towel that keeps the clay moist to represent hair. Generally between work sessions I just soak the towel and drape it over the sculpture then cover it with plastic bags. The picture was a bit dark because it's easier to see the subtle plane changes in the surface of the sculpture. In other words it's easier to see how the surfaces blend together and change as you move around it.

Here we're further along! It looks quite a bit different now! We can see the armature I'm using to hold up it up. There's actually steel rebar that is used for concrete reinforcing and bent metal tubing inside. The moist clay is very heavy and sags otherwise.

Here's a few more pictures...

Here's a closeup of the Tara's face. I've portrayed her eyes as closed as though she were in a state of shamanic concentration. It's easier for me to model the clay to show the eyes closed. I decided to give her the eyelid structure found in many native peoples where the light is particularly intense such as in Tibet! Ultimately I'm trying to convey the sense of a being with tremendous compassion who although having great wisdom and understanding still has the fiery nature and pathos of a young woman looking upon the destruction of her homeland. As the Dalai Lama says of the Chinese regime, " we should have compassion for the Chinese. But that doesn't mean we should let them do what they want."

please click here to continue...

* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions. The information for

the sketches is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.


	A Land of Tibet August 2005 * Back in the studio where we can see the lotus blossoms, the printing block resting on the bench and the loom. The drawings for our a land of Tibet are on the bench. I've put them on a roll to make them easier move out of the way of the clay work . There was a lot involved with these. I'll tell more of this later. Let's look at what's under the bags! Here's the beginning of the piece. I thought it would be neat to create a sculpture of Tibet with Tara Drolma above looking down toward Lake Yamdrok Yutso! I'll bring us a quick drawing a bit later I came up with that sort of shows the concept. Of course she could be any of the Goddess protectoresses of Tibet! I thought of this would be more of a shamanic emotional landscape that both embodied the essence of Tibet and the terrible times the Tibetan people are enduring rather than some uninteresting cartography! I should explain this. I was thinking about the height of the mountains compared with the actual extent of Tibet and came to the realization that the earth's surface is much wider than tall. It then becomes a bit of a challenge to sit about trying to put in a lot of what amounts little more than unexciting surface texture. It would be something of a boring cartographic exercise rather than than what was intended. Initially I was a bit more enthusiastic about the sculpture since it looked a lot better than the big glop of clay that was first there! In retrospect it needs lots of work but the basic structure is in place. I'm using the towel that keeps the clay moist to represent hair. Generally between work sessions I just soak the towel and drape it over the sculpture then cover it with plastic bags. The picture was a bit dark because it's easier to see the subtle plane changes in the surface of the sculpture. In other words it's easier to see how the surfaces blend together and change as you move around it. Here we're further along! It looks quite a bit different now! We can see the armature I'm using to hold up it up. There's actually steel rebar that is used for concrete reinforcing and bent metal tubing inside. The moist clay is very heavy and sags otherwise. Here's a few more pictures... Here's a closeup of the Tara's face. I've portrayed her eyes as closed as though she were in a state of shamanic concentration. It's easier for me to model the clay to show the eyes closed. I decided to give her the eyelid structure found in many native peoples where the light is particularly intense such as in Tibet! Ultimately I'm trying to convey the sense of a being with tremendous compassion who although having great wisdom and understanding still has the fiery nature and pathos of a young woman looking upon the destruction of her homeland. As the Dalai Lama says of the Chinese regime, " we should have compassion for the Chinese. But that doesn't mean we should let them do what they want." please click here to continue... * courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions. The information for the sketches is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.