 Portrait of the Dalai Lama   Click Here for a Close-up Portrait
|
His Holiness, Tanzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, has been a major inspiration in the pursuit of Peace on both a global scale, and for countless individuals the world over. His simple message of Compassion can transform our lives. It has helped me through a difficult year, otherwise chaotic both globally and personally. His shining example of love and hope for the future of the Tibetan people is monumental. And so I chose to honor his message and his mission with a portrait, bringing his holy, humerous, and down to earth presence into my life. I spent a month with His Holiness, not in person, but watching videos, drawing, collecting dozens of photos, and sculpting in my studio, over and over. I tried to capture that essence of his ever changing smile and laugh that emerge as he offers his wit and wisdom for the happiness of humanity. Despite my major surgery to his sculpted arms and legs, and dozens of tiny eyeglass fittings, he remained ever smiling, a lesson in patience. Each school in Buddhism requires a distinct way to wrap and drape their garments. I needed more information on the Gelupa, or yellow school, whose saffron color represents Earth. I researched this costume as best I could, with all respect to the profound symbolism of every detail, but the mystery of the actual draping required another kind of expertise. I eventually found advise and help from a young Gelupa student monk working at Little Tibet, a rug store in Middletown, CT. He showed me how to drape the sen over the shoulders, how to pleat the shathap, and belt it with a yellow kera , and he corrected my pattern of the tongha , the wrapped shirt. Watching him adjust the folds in the robes with such loving care was very touching. I learned that The Dalai Lama only wears his yellow sen when he is teaching. I am deeply indebted to Tsering Yangzon, and to Tsultrim Gyatso for her gracious translating from Tibetan to English. I believe we can all benefit from the healing presence of this holy man and so I am planning to create a limited edition of His Holiness. Twenty percent of each purchase will go to the Dalai Lama's campaign to Save Tibet, and the first of the edition to His Holiness himself. Please let me know if you are at all interested in sharing in his sculpted presence. He stands less than 15 inches on a scalloped 9 inch wooden base, and will be cast in resin. Costs are in the process of being determined. |
