If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
~ Pema Chödrön
Tibetan Silk Thangka: detail from Padmapani, by Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo
Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo
Textile Artist and carrier of a sacred Tibetan artistic tradition, USA
Web site: http://LeslieRW.com
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Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo makes art that speaks to our highest aspirations. One of the only westerners trained in the rare Buddhist art of silk appliqué thangkas, she is passionate about the preservation and evolution of this cultural tradition.
Her story is the subject of the acclaimed documentary film, Creating Buddhas: the Making and Meaning of Fabric Thangkas. She was the special guest artist at the 2010 Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival. And her thangkas have been exhibited internationally in museums, juried shows, and dharma centers and featured in the pages of FiberArts and Spirituality & Health magazines.
Lauded by Tibetan lamas and textile conservators, Leslie’s work is simultaneously traditional and contemporary. In four years of apprenticeship to master T.G. Dorjee Wangdu in Dharamsala, she created silk thangkas for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Namgyal Monastery, Gyuto Tantric College, Sogyal Rinpoche, and others. Over the course of two decades her nomadic life has brought her full circle from California to India, through Italy, and back home to California. Each place has touched her and influenced her vision.
[artwork image copyright: Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo]
