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Review: “Creating Buddhas”

by Lydia Ruyle

Creating Buddhas, The Making and Meaning of Fabric Thangkas

a film by Isadora Gabrielle Leidenfrost

Creating Buddhas is a documentary film by Isadora Gabrielle Leidenfrost featuring an artist who makes Buddhas out of silk, Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo. Trained in Dharamsala, India for nine years, Leslie is one of the few female fabric thangka makers in the world.

At work on the Green Tara Thangka

Thangka, which means a rolled up image made of silk cloth, helped spread Buddhism throughout Asia. Viewing a thangka sacred image is a Buddhist spiritual practice which helps sentient beings move in the direction of enlightenment.

In the Tibetan cultural tradition, fabric thangka making is the highest form of art. Thangkas are made of precious materials; pure silk, gold threads, ornaments. There is a geometrical, artistic and spiritual canon to follow. It is a challenge to learn and practice the art form.

The beautiful film follows the process of making a Green Tara thangka from its beginnings to completion over six months later. The process is both a spiritual one and an artistic one–both the making of thangkas and the making of movies.

Continue reading “Review: “Creating Buddhas””

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2011 East Symposium Schedule

See bottom of page for link to presenters’ biographies with full descriptions of presentations.

SATURDAY March 12

11:00 Registration

12:30 Opening Remarks

Patricia Monaghan and Sid Reger

12:45-2:00  PLENARY

Living Goddesses:  Embodying the Divine in Buddhist Nepal

Miranda Shaw, Ph.D., author of Passionate Enlightenment and Buddhist Goddesses of India

2:15 to 3:45

SESSION I: PANEL   Patterns of Descent and Rebirth

Catalina Florescu, Ph.D.

Reinventing the Myth of Demeter

Stephanie Melmed, C.S.W.

Embodying the Descent Myth

Merry Norris

My Gift From the Goddess: EmBODYment

SESSION II: PANEL  Arts, Goddesses and Creativity

Lydia Ruyle, M.F.A.

The Embodied Goddess of the Western Hemisphere

Amejo Amyot, Ph.D.

Ancient Earth Goddess in art

Tova Beck-Friedman, M.F.A.

Translating Ideas into Images  (short films)

SESSION III:  WORKSHOP  Singing in Sacred Circle

Shelley Graff, singer-songwriter

4:00-5:30

SESSION IV:  PANEL  Word, Image, and Archetype

Responder:  Patricia Monaghan

Lisa Paul Streitfeld, author, journalist

The Embodied Goddess in 21st Century Art

Lorraine S. Schein, M.F.A.

Poetry

Johanna Braff, Ph.D. candidate

Sappho 16’s Helen: victim of the gods or promoter of evil?

Leesa Sklover-Filgate, Ph.D.

Lost in the wild: The Ruptured Mother-Child Archetype

SESSION V:  PANEL  Priestesses and Sacred Mothers

Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, Ph.D.

The Water Goddess, OGBUIDE

Elizabeth Jacquet

Feminine Iconography in Etruscan Death Rituals

Iyalode Mei Mei Sanford, Ph.D.

Abundant Embodiment . . . in Yoruba Religions

H.E. Oloyo Aina Olomo

Primordial Mothers of Yoruba Spirituality

SESSION VI:  WORKSHOP Evoking and Remembering the Ancient Earth Goddess

Amejo Amyot, Ph.D.  (sculptor, educator)

5:30-7:30 dinner break

7:30-9:00 An Evening with Goddesses and Heroines

Announcing our first-ever Brigit Award for Excellence in the Arts, to… Layne Redmond!

Shelley Graff, singing together

Tova Beck-Friedman,  short film

Serpentessa, The Dance of the Serpent Priestess

She Who,  a capella chorus

SUNDAY, March 13

7:45-9:00 Networking Breakfast

 

9:00 -10:15

SESSION VII:  PANEL Re-membering Goddesses

Patricia Monaghan

Hail, Mary

Lydia Ruyle. M.F.A.

The Embodied Goddess of Anatolia

SESSION VII:  WORKSHOP

Holly Shere, M.A.

Wild Earth Shebrew:  A Devotional Chant Experience

10:30 – 11:45

SESSION IX:  PANEL Priestesses and Goddesses: Embodiments of the Female Divine in Judaism

Convener: Ma’ayana Gail Tishman

Sheila Shiki y Michaels

A Naos for Naomi

Rav Kohenet Jill Hammer

Traditions of Sacred Weaving Women in the Temple and Jewish Myth

Rav Kohenet Holly Shere

And We Will Be Shechina: Contemporary Jewish Priestesses and Paths, Possibilities and Pitfalls of Embodying the Goddess

Responder: Kohenet Mei Mei Sanford

SESSION X:  WORKSHOP

Serpentessa, dancer

Belly on Earth, Snake on Skin: Woman as Embodied Goddess

12:00-12:45

PLENARY Research and Scholarship

Patricia Monaghan:  Report on Goddess Studies Syllabus Project

Sid Reger, Moderator:  Six Essential Questions (open participation)

Link to presenters’ biographies with detailed descriptions of presentations.

 

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Some Guidelines for Fair Use

In this age of the web, authors and artists will invariably run into copyright issues, either in terms of their own work or in terms of fair use of another’s work.  We have an obligation to make ourselves aware of the limitations imposed by copyright law and exceptions for “fair use” for educational purposes.

Stanford University library site covers all things related to copyright.

Here are two other good articles describing fair use:

A Photo Editor’s article on photo use on blogs

Carolyn E. Wright’s blog Photo Attorney, “The Fuss About Fair Use”

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Explorator: Links to World Archaeology

Whether you are interested in classical Greece or the Australian Dreamtime, the Explorator listserv by David Meadows is a wonderful resource.  In its 15th year, this great list covers links to all kinds of web articles (and accompanying images) on the broad topic of archaeology.  No ads, no discussion–just a single weekly email of links for you to pursue.  To subscribe to Explorator, send a blank email message to:

Explorator-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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Altared Spaces Art Exhibit

Altared space–Barb Lutz

ASWM member Barb Lutz, whose work is featured on the page Myth and Living Rituals, had first  gallery showing of her unique earthen altars (“shamanic creations of sacred space”) in Madison, WI, in May.

These are words and images from Barb Lutz’s art show, “Altared Spaces,” which ran concurrent with the recent ASWM Symposium in Madison, where Barb also presented, and RCG-I’s annual “Gathering of Priestesses and Goddess Women.”

One entered the exhibit experience, which was dedicated to the Earth (“we will not forsake you!”) through a “Hall of Ancestors.” These words welcomed visitors:

You are entering sacred space.. . . You are entering the culture of a very special Tribe of Wimmin who honor and love the Goddess and who Follow the Wheel of the Year (the Seasons of Nature), the Wheel of Life, as our Life.

“Our religion is the Wheel. Our language, Ritual. Our tribe, Dianic….Goddess…. Amazon!”*    

Each elaborate display was visual and silent.  Barb chose not to add written explanations to the altars, instead inviting people to “simply and deeply experience them as an opportunity for an intimate conversation between each of us and Her. “

Barb had this to say:  My work as an altarist, ritualist, and creator of sacred space is done within the culture of my People, Goddess wimmin, in our Mystery School in North Carolina, the WOTY program, rituals, and other venues.  These altars are about my relationship to Her, from their conception to manifestation to the completion, when the dirt and sand and other natural items are composted in our garden or made use of in other altars and sacred spaces.

My inspiration is Nature, the temples and science and art of ancient Goddess cultures, my foremother’s such as archeologist Marija Gimbutas, other artists and researchers, my Priestess, and the wimmin I Circle with, who are also Nature. 

 

 

*from unpublished manuscript by Kim Duckett, soon to be serialized on RCG-I’s Seasonal Salon. 

Altar by Barb Lutz
Altar by Barb Lutz