
Learn about the processes and methods for creating Himalayan art that were developed over centuries, refined through collaborative efforts of patrons and artists, and encompass all known traditional art making media. To make three-dimensional objects, artists sculpt and carve in clay, stone, and wood, cast images in the round, and hammer repoussé reliefs in metal.
Textile artisans produce images using the appliqué technique, embroidery, and silk weaving and follow the same rules of proportion as the painters of two-dimensional works. Ordinary people also create objects, such as plaques made from molds using clay, and employ woodblocks to imprint images on cloth or paper to make prayer flags, amulets, and texts. Skilled painters create hanging scrolls called thangka using mineral pigments on prepared cloth or silk canvases.
In this section
in this sectionCreating in Clay

A segment from Art religieux du Bhoutan (Religious Arts of Bhutan), the film by Marie-Noëlle Frei-Pont. Filmed on an 8mm film, 1974 to 1982. With kind permission of Marie-Noëlle Frei-Pont & Society Switzerland-Bhutan. The Rubin Museum of Art, "Art religieux du Bhoutan (Religious Arts of Bhutan) - Prayer Flag Printing," YouTube, July 6, 2023, 3:55, https://youtu.be/cP3YnnGERKg.

Content by Chandra Reedy, University of Delaware. Courtesy of the Bard Graduate Center, New York. Produced for the Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place exhibition on view September 14, 2018 – January 6, 2019. Bard Graduate Center, "Tsa Tsa Making," YouTube, March 21, 2019, 5:49 https://youtube.com/BX2DbFuqltc.
Objects in the Exhibition




