STUDENT PAINTINGS
RAVE REVIEWS..
Trinidad Cuesta, Mexico
Thangka paintings, the most beautiful sanctuary to study or visit the Museum!
My experience doing my Thangka course with Sarika and Master Locho was over my expectations, they are the best, they put so much love to their Museum and students, in charge of each detail to make you feel incredible in their amazing sanctuary in the middle of the mountains. They have so much knowledge and experience to share this path. They are not only a great artists, they are lovely and kindness persons that have a clear purpose to preserve this sacred arts. If you want to study Thangka or visit the Museum with the most beautiful Tangka paintings this is the place you have to go!
Janetmas, Canada
It was a last minute decision to attend the Thangka painting course at the Himalayan Art Museum. I was warmly received by Master Locho and Dr Sarika. The lessons were professional and supportive. The facilities were peaceful and comfortable and my fellow students were friendly and interesting. I appreciated going on the field trips to visit Tibetan cultural sites. I also appreciated the additional guidance and support offered by instructor Lobsang.
This was a course, not only in rendering Thangkas, but also in learning how to approach Buddhist art, a depth of knowledge that I am only beginning to understand and appreciate.
Minu Dixit, India
I stayed at Himalayan Art Museum for a short span of a week, and what an experience it was. There home is so close to Nature. Dr. Sarika and Master Locho are such inspirational individuals.
I had wanted to learn to draw Thangka little by little, and I am glad that I was able to start my jouney of drawing thangka from the greatest individuals. I learnt to draw Shakyamuni Budhdha, I was so happy with what I could do. This art is not only drawing but also helps in concentration and shows a spiritual side of our Life. Not just drawing I got such beautiful life lessons, those little time I spent with Sarika Maa'm were precious.
Their museum is so amazing and a sacred place.
It became a home away from home for me, i am so glad to have spent my time at this Institute.
And I met some great people too. They have online courses also so that anyone interested in this art can learn from their home at their convenience. These courses are so impressive. Thankyou for giving me this opportunity to learn Thangka from you Dr. Sarika Maa'm. Taking home loadz of valuable memories.
I'll continue the journey I started at this institute throughout my life.
Shyam Lescault, USA
I cannot recommend this experience highly enough! Stay for a week, stay for a year, visit for an hour or a lifetime, I guarantee that your time spent here will be transformative in the best way possible.
I recently took the one month Thangka painting course and I consider it to be one of the defining moments of my life. Master Locho, Dr. Singh and all the other incredible staff (special shoutout to the living bodhisattva Assistant master Lobsang and the best adventure buddy Abhiraj) provide a top notch experience and carefully guide students through both the more mundane aspects of getting accustomed to life in a new world as well as the divine process of bringing a deity to life. I learned so much in my relatively short time here, not just about art but about myself and more importantly the world. I have returned home a changed person and I owe it all to the amazing family I found at the Himalayan Art Museum!
Thank you all so much
Faith Stone, USA
Visiting the Himalayan Art Museum and taking a workshop with Dr Sarika Singh and Lobsang was a life changing experience. We stayed at the museum for 5 days while taking a workshop on Drawing Tara. The accommodations were wonderful and the views were spectacular. The museum has 45 masterpiece very large thangkas (scroll paintings) by Sarika and Master Locho with assistant master Lobsang. The paintings took years of research by Dr Singh and 3 to 7 years to paint each one. They are extraordinary! I have been studying and painting thangkas and carving Buddha woodblocks for over 4 decades. I have had 3 teachers including Tibetan lamas. However, Sarika gave me the most detailed explanations for drawing and painting that I have ever encountered. She takes you step by step, incredibly thorough. The museum school of Living Buddhist Arts offer, 1 and 3 day workshops all the way through 1 month, 3 month, 3 year and 10 year programs. They also have a comprehensive online course for the many of us who will not be able to travel for extended periods.
While staying at the museum school we were also able to visit the renowned Norbulinka Artist colony.
The cherry on top was meeting the Neching Dorje Rinpoche and also being able to attend His Holiness the Dalai Lama's prayer service on Christmas Day at his main temple in Dharamshala.
Lastly, I was deeply moved that Sarika hung one of my woodblock thangkas of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of compassion in her studio.
Lunch is included in the stay, the food is wonderful,
the residence is imbued with the beautiful ,peaceful energy of the art and the master painters, and the costs are very reasonable.
Mihir K, USA
An Oasis of Art!!
I visited and stayed at the Himalayan art Museum to take a one-month course on thangka painting and learn with some hands-on experience about how these traditional Buddhist scroll paintings are made. What became incredibly clear to me from day one was that years of practice, learning, and research had been distilled into every lesson, every discussion, and every educational resource that I and the other students were provided with. Documentation on thangka painting (and south Asian/Himalayan art traditions in general) as it pertains to the artist themselves is sorely lacking even without mentioning any possible language barriers, so to come across a wellspring of consistently high quality and curated art and information is like finding an oasis in the desert.
To come here as a student will remind you of the irreplaceable value of skilled and knowledgeable teachers who are happy to answer questions and guide your artistic journey with bodhisattva-like patience. To come here as a museum visitor will amaze you with how much care has gone into each and every step that makes up these paintings. To come here at all is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the gorgeous nature of the Himalayan foothills in a place where everything down to architecture pays homage to the rich traditions of this region while creating an environment of serenity and focus. I feel very lucky I have gotten to do all three!
Elina Ojastu, Estonia
Three months of thankga studies, which were like entering a tunnel. A tunnel that is unknown and mystical.
One might think that drawing a single picture is simply pulling lines, filling the area between the lines with color, and it's done. But the first sentence that Master Dr. Sarika said at the beginning of the course was that 10% is drawing, and the remaining 90% is what the drawn deity begins to create with you. I must not forget that I am bringing the deity to life and doing so through myself. You begin to embody it. Everything ahead goes into purification.
So it happened....
I chose White Tara for my first thankga. Before starting on White Tara, I had two weeks to practice drawings on paper. The first was the Buddha's head - I was surprised when I noticed how thoughts dictated the quality of the line - every thought that jumped into my head brought a jolt to the line. It was two weeks of training in the silence of the mind. Additionally, Dr. Sarika gave us meditations in ancient Indian language, which started working with the subconscious - organizing and aligning it.
The meditation was a museum, a temple of deities hanging on the walls. Master Locho and Dr. Sarika had done years of research and painting on them. It was truly an incomprehensible experience to see them, and it was impossible to take in their dedication, beauty, and time in one viewing. Three months of drawing and painting my own thankga, I slowly began to understand the incomprehensible creation of these two masters and their team.
After two weeks of drawing, I started with White Tara. Master Lobsang was my guide. He instructed me on how to create the canvas, how to mix pigments, how to shade. Every day, I was amazed by the brevity of his words, yet their precision, providing exactly the information I needed at that moment.
The entire museum area, with its rooms and landscaping, caused confusion in my mind. I couldn't exactly understand which country I was in. The overall design made me feel like I was in a Japanese architectural dream, using Tibetan symbols and colors. Energetically, it felt like a sacred place where monks had meditated for centuries. It is hard to imagine a better environment for such a transformation.
The whole team, including Dr. Sarika, Master Locho, and Master Lobsang, quickly became like my family. I felt protected and safe, cared for and loved.
The transformation that the creation of thankga led to continues to this day.
Thank you, Master Locho, Dr. Sarika, Master Lobsang, Master Bandana, Ashwini, Sunil, Rani Aunty, Abi, Sara, Melissa, Tom, and Sighi! ❤️
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