Born in Tibet, Kalsang Dawa apprenticed with three of Lhasa’s most prominent masters of traditional art by the time he was fourteen. As a young man he walked across the treacherous Himalayas to join the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, India. For the next eight years Kalsang studied with the Venerable Sengye Yeshi, former personal painter of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Kalsang became a master of traditional painting, immersed in its philosophy and disciplined in its rigorous techniques.
Kalsang moved to North America in 1998 and began pushing the boundaries of tradition with an evolving personal style. Emphasizing art as a source of insight and healing, he conducted over 50 workshops at museums, galleries, Buddhist centres and educational institutions. His prints have sold at the Rubin Museum in New York, San Francisco Museum of Asian Art and UBC Museum of Anthropology. He was profiled by the CBC and Vancouver Magazine and featured in the film Dancing On The Hurricane.
Artist’s Statement:
There are dangers in my quest for inner understanding through art. As a traditional thankga painter in Tibet and Dharamsala, I learned how to bring alive a sacred landscape of Gods and Goddesses, with all their symbolic ornamentation. I knew their layered meanings, handed down over generations. Thangka painting is a meditation aide for artist and patron, not a display of creative impulse. It demands respect for boundaries. My Masters told me: “Don’t mess with the Gods and Goddesses, you will disturb the world order.” Yet, I was always attracted to the dangerous face of innovation.
As a Tibetan artist in the West I have continued to use the unique semi-precious stone pigments and exacting methods of the thangka tradition. I have pushed past old boundaries, however, by disrupting traditional meanings and forms. To step outside the boundaries is to risk losing something - the respect of your Masters and others married to tradition, or the comfort of a familiar path. It is dangerous to play with respected symbols; you may feel guilty of betraying your learned values or even what you thought was your most profound self.
New paths have no certainties or safe outcomes. But, they allow me to become more alive in the present. Through painting I want to reach for a better, more authentic self and to touch those who also have embarked on a journey inwards. Ultimately the painterly quest is not so much about finding anything but about recording the imprint of the journey.
exhibits
installations
2014
Tsengdok Monastery, Vancouver, BC
Designed and painted throne used for monastic rituals
2015
Shantideva Buddhist Temple – Ithaca, New York
Planned, designed and created the artwork for a Buddhist Temple. Eight of my thangkas were commissioned as a foundation of the primary collection, on exhibit at this temple.
2000
Saint Norbert Arts and Culture Centre –Winnipeg, Canada
Painted “Universal Compassion” –Room 23 for the “Language Hotel”.'
1994
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives – Dharamsala, India
Created exterior designs for this significant culture building
1993-1994
Ganden Monastery, Mundgod, Karnataka State, India
Created “Neten” series of 24 thangka paintings to be part of the art collection at this monastery
1989
Pupu-ri Monastery – Lhasa, Tibet
Created interior and exterior designs for a monastery located in the Tibetan capital.
Public Talk
Nov 24th, 2016
Visual & Material Culture
MOA, UBC, Vancouver
2016
International Day of the Dead Exhibit
Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Sep 23rd, 2015
Your Inner Mandala
Banyan Books & Sound
Vancouver, Canada
Nov 15th, 2016
International Day of the Dead Exhibit
Granville Island,Vancouver, Canada
May 29nd, 2015
Thangka Exhibition
BC Buddhist Festival, Vancouver, Canada
May 22nd, 2015
Sculpted 9 ft Buddha
BC Buddhist Festival, Vancouver, Canada
Sept-Nov, 2014
Distance & Displacement
Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton, Canada
Aug 2014
Materials & Pigments
Ferry Building Gallery, Harmony Arts Festival.
Vancouver, Canada
March 2014
Between The Line
Studio Gallery 33, Vancouver, BC
2013
Finding Your Alignment
Yoga Pod Body and Soul Gallery
North Vancouver, BC
May 2014
Undying Love
Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens
Vancouver, Canada
April-May 2006
Two Minds
MOA, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
March-Oct 2005
Mountains and Valleys, Castles and Tents
Royal British Columbia Museum: Tibet Exhibit:
Victoria, BC, Canada
April 2004
Himalayan Art Exhibit
Pendulum Gallery in the Atrium
Vancouver, Canada
1999 - Feb 2003
Walk into Tibet
Cosmopolis Gallery – Vancouver, Canada
Feb 2001
Missing Home
SUB Gallery, UBC
Vancouver, Canada
Dec 2001
Unsettled Stillness
Toronto City Hall
Toronto, Canada
Jan 11-13, 2000
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria – Victoria, Canada
Nov 5-7, 1999
Ferry Building Gallery – Vancouver, Canada
Aug 18-19, 1999
Kalachakra Teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Tibetan Cultural Centre - Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Aug 2-11, 1999
Highland Park Public Library - Highland Park, New Jersey, USA
July 27, 1999
Unitarian Fellowship Hall
Kingston, Canada
July 24, 1999
Arts Centre – Waterloo, Canada
Aug 18-19, 1999
Snellgrove Gallery: University of Saskatchewan – Saskatoon, Canada
June 1-30, 1999
Britannia Public Library – Vancouver, Canada
June 1-10, 1999
Tibetan Sacred Art Exhibit, Pendulum Gallery – Vancouver, Canada
May 22-24, 1999
Village Craftworks – Gabriola Island, CanadaMarch 13, 1999
The Roundhouse Community Centre – Vancouver, Canada
Oct 1998
University of British Columbia, SUB Gallery – Vancouver, Canada
May, 2016
SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSUEM
Workshop
Seattle, US
Oct 24th, 2015
Penticton, BC, Canada
2006- present
EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART AND DESIGN
Instructor, Introduction to Tibetan thangka painting
Kalsang is part of the teaching faculty at Emily Carr. He teaches Introduction to Tibetan thangka painting as part of the Continuing Education program. Students in the program receive academic credits and a formal evaluation. The course is provided in Winter, Summer and Fall semesters.
2013-present
STUDIO GALLERY 33
Healing Arts Thangka Workshops
Vancouver, Canada
2014
ARTS WELLS
Healing Arts Thangka Workshops
Barkerville, Canada
2014
WIND-IN-THE-WILLOW CREATION HEALING ART STUDIO Healing Arts Thangka Workshops
Penticton, Canada
2013
SHAMBHALA MEDITATION CENRE
San Francisco, CA, USA
2010
LAKE TAHOE COMMUNITY CENTRE Tibetan Festival
Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA
2009
UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
Department of Religious Studies
March-Oct 2005
MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Healing Arts Thangka Workshops Vancouver, Canada
April 2006
LANGARA COLLEGE
Integrative Healing Arts Program
Co-coordinated and led group trip to Dharamsala, India. Taught students about Tibetan history, art, culture, and traditional healing systems during 3 week tour of Buddhist sacred sites, Tibetan Medical Institute, Thangka painting school, Tibetan Childrens’ Village school and orphanage.
2005
ROYAL BRITISH COLUMBIA MUSEUM,
Thangka painting workshops Victoria, Canada
May 2005
Thangka painting demonstration: Travelling Tibetan Cultural Festival –Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Lower Mainland, Canada
Dec 2004
Thangka painting demonstration: Yaletown Art Show – Vancouver, Canada Demonstrate technique and tools use in thangka painting
2002
Thangka painting demonstration: Tibetan Cultural Festival z– Vancouver, Canada
2001
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
Department of Religious Studies
Aug 18-19, 1999
SAINT NORBERT ARTS AND CULTURE CENTRE
Winnipeg, Canada
Participated in a Canada Council sponsored project called the “Language Hotel”, in which artists from across Canada gathered for a collaborative residency:
Teachings
Performance art
Nov, 2016
Intraelement Performance: I MISSED YOU
MOA, UBC, Vancouver, Cananda
Sep 2nd, 2016
Intraelement Performance: I MISSED YOU
Richmond Culture Centre Performance Hall