Threads of Awakening,
Book Launch and Art Show
Celebrate the release of Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo’s new memoir, Threads of Awakening, at Bell Arts Factory on
September 10 and 11!
Bell Arts Factory
432 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura, CA 93001
About this event
Thangka artist Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo is joined by tapestry artist Michael Rohde and mixed media artist Nova Clite to celebrate the release of Threads of Awakening: An American Woman’s Journey into Tibet’s Sacred Textile Art. The three artists will display artworks in the theme of Sacred Transformations.
Open Art Show
Sat. 9/10 and Sun. 9/11
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Book Talk / Signing / Celebration
Sat. 9/10
3:00 pm
Creating Buddhas Screening
Sat. 9/10
7:30 pm
Part art book, part memoir, part spiritual travelogue, Threads of Awakening is an inspiring blend of adventure and introspection. It tells the intertwined stories of a woman who found her heart’s home on the other side of the globe and the sacred art form she met there. Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo shares her experience as a California woman traveling to the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India to manage an economic development fund, only to wind up sewing pictures of Buddha instead. Through her remarkable journey, she discovered that a path is made by walking it and some of the best paths are made by walking off course. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has blessed the book with a foreword.
This celebratory exhibition will be on display in Bell Art Factory‘s Community Room all day Saturday 9/10 and Sunday 9/11, from 10am to 5pm.
The main event is on Saturday afternoon 9/10 at 3:00. Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo will tell stories of the writing and publishing of this extraordinary book, answer your questions, and sign your books. Our local independent bookstore Timbre Books will have books available on site. There may be music. There will surely be laughter and surprise.
On Saturday evening at 7:30, we’ll have a screening of the documentary Creating Buddhas, which featured Leslie’s artwork and story. The 2008 film is a perfect complement to the book!
Please join us to celebrate this long-awaited book release.
The Artists
Michael Rohde
has been weaving and exhibiting his work nationally and internationally for four decades. His interests are in creating abstract and partly recognizable images, usually with yarns he has dyed for each project. The work that will be shown in this show includes faces transformed into tapestry and woven emulations of Tibetan sutra text. www.michaelrohde.com
Nova Clite
is a self-taught mixed-media artist. A life-long creative, she recently retired from a three-decades-long career in environmental science. Her scientific experience informs her artwork with a perspective on how the world works and the challenges before us. Yet playful imagination is the primary driver of her compositions in found materials, beads, clay, and paint. www.novaclite.com
Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo
is a textile artist, teacher, and author of Threads of Awakening: An American Woman’s Journey into Tibet’s Sacred Textile Art. A California girl who bought a one-way ticket to India and landed in a Tibetan sewing workshop next door to the Dalai Lama, she became one of few non-Tibetans to master the Buddhist art of silk appliqué thangka. Leslie stitches bits of silk into elaborate figurative mosaics that bring the transformative images of Buddhist meditation to life. www.threadsofawakening.com
Registration is free and not required, but it will help us estimate attendance and prepare accordingly.