Upcoming Fulbright Artist Talk at DNKL Tibetan Buddhist Center
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I am honored to give a Fulbright Artist Talk soon at Do Ngak Kunphen Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center for Universal Peace, Sunday, Feb. 1st, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm in Redding, CT. This center was the co-sponsor, along with Western Connecticut State University, for the Dalai Lama’s talk on Compassion and Creativity a couple of years ago in Danbury, CT. It was on this occasion that I first met DNKL’s community, and when I had the opportunity to film the creation and dissolution of a Compassion Sand Mandala made by Drepung Gomang monks as part of their Sacred Art Tour.
This visual presentation at DNKL, “In Search of Mandalas in the Himalayas,” will include photos and videos taken during my Fulbright research, featuring mandalas of the Tabo Monastery’s main temple, the famed Tsug Lhakhang, and Lamayuru Monastery’s Senge Lhakhang, and others. I will also screen my latest experimental film inspired by research and study of Buddhist philosophy. I look forward to what I’m sure will be engaging discussions with this astute audience!
The talk is Sunday, Feb. 1st, 11:00 am-12:30 pm, followed by reception at DNKL, 30 Putnam Park Road, Redding, CT Tel: 203-664-1574. It will be preceded by DNKL’s usual Sunday community gathering from 10:00 am. Open to the public, all are welcome.
Fulbright Artist Talk at Religion Colloquium, Bard College
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It is with great pleasure that I will return to my alma mater Bard College to present a Fulbright Artist Talk at its Religion Colloquium.
In addition to showing photos and videos of my 2013-14 Fulbright research on 10th-12th c. Buddhist mandalas in ancient Tibetan monasteries of Spiti, Lahaul, and Ladakh, I will be screening my new experimental film, Betwixt. This work-in-progress is almost complete, and it will be a special sneak peek for attendees only!
Still from Betwixt (05:06), 2014
At invitation of Asian Studies, Art, and Religion Departments, artist and experimental filmmaker Eva Lee presents at Bard College, Religion Colloquium, Monday, November 17th, 2014, 5-6pm. Hegeman Hall, Room 106. Open to the public.
Upcoming Fulbright Artist Talk
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My climb to a 15,000 foot Himalayan mountain top, gasping for beauty as much as for lack of oxygen, plus many more discoveries traipsing through Spiti, Lahaul, and Ladakh in this upcoming presentation.
Thoughts on the Eve of Kalachakra in Ladakh 2014
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July 2, 2014
Kalachakra will take place in Ladakh, India, near the city of Leh starting tomorrow July 3 – July 14. I wish I could be there this year, but alas, I will be here at home in the U.S. And on this, the eve of the event, I’m thinking about when I attended the Kalachakra Event for World Peace in Washington, D.C. held in July of 2011.
At that time, I had returned from my first trip to India where I happened to meet one of the organizers of this event. It was not long before he recruited me to help with video content for the large screens at Verizon Center, where the ritual was hosted.
I helped design and produce material for projection onto the arena screens. Content included Kalachakra prayers, and video presentations of photographs which were shown in between ritual sessions during breaks. These were essentially images of Tibetan subjects by noted photographers such as Don Farber, Tenzin Choejor, Abhishek Madhukar, and many others.
In the process of creating the video material, I had the wonderful experience of working closely with an American Tibetan Buddhist nun named Ani Tenzin Lhamo-la. Her guidance was invaluable. I could not have made these videos for Kalachakra without her. What’s more, her friendship, moxie, and insight as a psychotherapist and monastic have been memorable and enduring.
The Dalai Lama with monastics on stage at Kalachakra Event for World Peace, Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., July, 2011. Photo: Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
I felt most honored to have produced a video chronology of the Dalai Lama’s life in celebration of his 76th birthday, which occurred on the first day of Kalachakra, July 6, 2011.
While I am not at liberty to post the video because it was created exclusively for the birthday occasion, I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to work with archived images of His Holiness. Joining that day to help celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday were Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s son, Martin. It was a historic appearance together.
Kalachakra Event for World Peace, Washington, D.C., July, 2011
I recently suddenly thought of the Dalai Lama sitting in the middle of the thekpu, the ritual platform on which the elaborate Kalachakra sand mandala is created. He does this on the first day of consecrating the ground where the sacred artform is performed, and again when the mandala is about to be dissolved.
I realized that for me, he is the real life version of the deity that resides in the middle of the mandala. Which is to say, I realized in my heart that he is a living example of compassion and wisdom united.
For all its elaborate ritual and complex symbolism, this is the basic goal of tantra—the union of compassion and wisdom. Wisdom of the ultimate nature of mind and reality. The mandala is the guide, the mnemonic image to aide a practitioner towards such enlightenment.
At the end of this ten-day-long event, the sand mandala was swept into a ritual vase to be taken to a nearby body of water and released after chanting and prayers were performed.
Pouring the sand mandala into the water is a way to release blessings out into the world. I was so happy to be part of the small group attending this final ritual act of Kalachakra.
Backstage with Andrew Lazarow and his indispensable assistance, preparing a playlist.Inside the media control room during Kalachakra Event for World Peace 2011A cherished moment of receiving a blessing from the Dalai Lama. Photo: Tenzin Choejor
I send warm thoughts to all those who are now engaged in making Kalachakra happen in Ladakh, India! I hope it is blissful and awakening.
Lastly, I wish a hearty Happy Birthday to the Dalai Lama. Your Holiness, I will be thinking of you this weekend on the 6th!
Fulbright Artist Talk to Fellow Artists at EFA Studios, NYC
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Eva Lee gives Fulbright Artist Talk at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) Studios, New York City
May 22, 2014
It was a pleasure to give my Fulbright “In Search of Mandalas” talk to fellow artists at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) Studios in New York City. There were familiar friends, old acquaintances, and new colleagues to meet. One artist was currently applying for a Fulbright to do research for 2014-2015. It’s always exciting to learn of others’ projects.
While I certainly enjoy presenting to all different audiences, I must say that because artists share a common visual language and practice, discussion can delve into the particulars of art research, process, and how it all results in the final artwork that is mutually enriching.
While in India, I so appreciated the worldview that the individual is not an all-important master of the universe able to exert control over everything, an approach which I believe we in the West tend to adopt. The individual is instead one expression of vast lives that came before and vast lives that will come after. It is folly to think that there aren’t also vast circumstances at work in the human or natural environment which are beyond our control.
Contingency is therefore normal. Indians and Tibetans are very okay with last minute changes, unforeseen circumstances that present themselves and affect the course of your plans, without a great deal of anguish or sense of derailment or judgement, the way that we can be in America. I found this to be true day in and day out, on small and large matters.
Flexibility, openness to unplanned occurrences, is considered a positive adaptive quality. One can go with the flow, with what presents itself, be aware of new or better potential solutions or outcomes than the one originally imagined. Make different decisions along the way. Sometimes it was maddening for my travel plans to have to accept this reality, but I learned to relinquish.
Here in the U.S., I’m thinking now of how we race around everywhere, internally and externally. Everything is precisely scheduled, and we expect results accordingly. We make lists to efficiently cross off when and what tasks are done. We think to ourselves that all these things have to be done, and done quickly, or we won’t get to where we need to be–to be successful, to be happy, to have the American Dream. We may feel often impatient, pressured, anxious, exhausted. We barely have time to have a meal when we are not multi-tasking or distracted. We run off here and there to the next meeting, to the next after-school event, the next appointment, the next workout at the gym, etc., in ever more and more compressed, appointed uses of time. Because there are always other things we also have to do.
What do we have to do? And what for?
Fulbright Artist Talk at Chuang Yen Monastery, Carmel, NY
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Today, 2-4 pm, I will be presenting my Fulbright research at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, NY, located on 225 acres of beautiful grounds, home of the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS). Come join us!
Below is the monastery’s flyer for the event.
Eva Lee gives Fulbright Artist Talk at Chuang Yen Monastery, New York
Since the text is a bit small, I’ll repeat it here:
Artist and experimental filmmaker Eva Lee will share experiences from her 2013 Fulbright research on 10th-12th century Buddhist mandalas in ancient Tibetan monasteries of Spiti, Lahaul, and Ladakh. Her presentation will include:
incredible photos of Himalayan journey
examples of contemporary mandalas
several video clips including the astonishing interior of Tabo Monastery’s main temple, the famed Tsug Lhakhang, the creation and dissolution of a Compassion Sand Mandala by Drepung Gomang monks from Southern India, abstract work of how the research and experience with Buddhist philosophy inspires her work
Don’t miss her mesmerizing animations and documentaries, as she presents her latest work at Chuang Yen Monastery, Sunday, April 27, 2014, 2-4pm at Woo Ju Memorial Library, 2020 Route 301, Carmel, NY
So if you’re in the area, come to my presentation at Woo Ju Memorial Library. Mandalas– ancient and contemporary, their continued relevance today.
Plus, discover the grounds of this beautiful monastery!
First Fulbright Artist Talk, MacDowell Colony
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I was thrilled to have been invited by The MacDowell Colony to give a talk at MacDowell Downtown this past week. I presented “In Search of Mandalas: An Artist’s Journey through the Indian Himalayas.” What an awesome audience and first opportunity to share my Fulbright experience and research!
Fulbright artist Eva Lee gives MacDowell Downtown talk, “In Search of Mandalas: An Artist’s Journey through the Indian Himalayas,” Peterborough, NH
MacDowell is a renowned artist’s residency where writers, visual artists, composers, choreographers, and architects may go to have undisturbed time to work in their cabin studios in the beautiful woods of New Hampshire. It was wonderful to reconnect with the lovely MacDowell staff and local community, while also meeting the current fellows in residence.
Even though I’ve been back now from India for a few months, the experience is still very much percolating. I’m sure it will be for a long time to come. India was so rich with sights, sounds, customs, concepts, rituals, history, etc., that it will probably be an enduring seepage into my psyche here at home in the U.S. Articulating my research through presenting images and findings not only fulfills the cultural exchange portion of my grant, but also helps me to assimilate what I’ve learned on my journey.
This is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented here are solely those of the artist, and do not represent the Fulbright Program, the Department of State, or any other entity.
