On 11 December, the Art Department was delighted to welcome Tenzin and her student Choeyang from Snowlands Art School. Snowlands is a small family-style fine art and handicrafts training school that was established by Canadian artist Kristel Ouwehand (Tenzin Dolma) in 2010 in response to a growing need for a centre for young artists to study art in an ethics-based environment.
Our Years 10 to 13 Art students have been fortunate enough to have an opportunity to learn about the art school’s history and the techniques behind their mastery.
The students started work with a piece of A4 paper and equipment to complete the technical drawing of Buddhist head using the example Tenzin created. Once the main structure was created, the students then began to apply pigments to their study to build to the layers of tone as seen in their presentation.
There was also yak skin which is boiled to create a glue… believe me it’s certainly got a specific pungent smell and unfortunately, (or fortunately) we didn’t have quite enough time to use it!
This task requires precision, patience and great concentration. Here are some pictures which demonstrate our artists’ progress throughout the two-hour session and the impressive skills they have.
We look forward to welcoming Tenzin and her students back to Shanghai in the future and visiting them in Gansu at their school.
We are wishing them a Merry Christmas with a personalised gift bag of art supplies and handmade cards from our students.
