Alumna Ariana Maki (PhD 2013) served as guest curator for two exhibitions that opened in March 2022 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. 

Mastery and Merit: Tibetan Art from the Jack Shear Collection, presents traditional Tibetan Buddhist art drawn from a recent gift shared between Vassar, Skidmore, and Williams Colleges. The exhibit highlights the wide range of roles played by teachers in Tibetan traditions, who act as patrons, educators, and exemplars to their devotees, who rely on them for guidance in matters both mundane and lofty.

Also on view is Beyond the Threshold: Contemporary Tibetan Art, which draws together ten contemporary Tibetan artists from around the world. Their works represent the broad range of current Tibetan creative expression, as the artists engage questions of identity, the roles of globalization and rising consumerism, the impacts of social media, and cultural expectations. 

(Press release for shared gift and Asia Week New York coverage of the shows).

Image credit:

Mandala of the Luminous One, Nampar Nagdzé, Central Tibet, ca. 18th century
Distemper on cloth
The Jack Shear Collection of Tibetan Art