Tag: FOFAC

Walking down the side streets of Patan, behind the roar of motorcycles and chatter of passersby is a nearly constant tinkering.  The sound of hammers and saws and all sorts of tools at work: this is known as an ancient center for the arts.  Lineages that go back centuries pass down their knowledge of traditional crafts in workshops and homes along the meandering brick alleys and courtyards.  Many of the iconographic styles considered to be nearly sacred, and with the same care and techniques practiced by their fore-bearers these workshops create masterpieces on a regular basis, such that art historians can mislocate a piece in time, not knowing whether it was made in the middle ages or 1980. This is what I've chosen to study for my independent research project this semester, and with the experiential learning style supported by SIT and anthropology I've been able to immerse myself in this artisan culture by undertaking a short apprenticeship in the copper repousse workshop of Sajan Ratna Sakya.  And while it's difficult to stare down the barrel of a giant research paper after doing eight hours of skilled manual labor six days a week, I love the work that I'm learning, and well... I'm sure the paper will happen, I am involved enough with all the ideas, but I'm procrastinating on the basis my hands are too sore to write. Only three days in I started working copper and I'm nearly done with a 7x5x3" elephant image, even if it's really more like Sajan's elephant that I keep messing up and he has to correct.  It's strange to him that there isn't a similar niche in America, let alone that major repousse statues died out in Europe back in the renaissance, he's making not one but two nine foot statues currently, and two other life sized portraits, all of religious figures and mostly for monasteries or private shrines.  When he asked where we get devotional images in America I had to hazard a guess at China... But it also takes a bit less to make a cross than to recreate the wheel of samsara. ...continue reading "Doing Research in Nepal"

Nepal has taught me a lot about self reliance: it's overrated.   In America I consider myself to be quite self reliant, rather independent and self-sufficient, always able to achieve my goals on my own.  But in a country that is quite literally "off the map" with un-plottable streets that laugh at the notion of google maps or guidebooks, I have come to trust in the easily offered help of strangers, and it is wonderful.   ...continue reading "Teachings From Nepal"