ARTIST | kalsangdawa

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