Supporting The Community During The Lock-down

The entire world is living a difficult time as the covid-19 pandemic changed the life of many and people are very concerned for the future of their families and their communities.
In under-developed countries like Nepal people are more accustomed to uncertainty especially in the last years during which we faced earthquakes, blockades, shortages and economic and political crisis.
Here most of the population can afford to feed their families with day to day jobs, and since the start of the lock-down it began a new humanitarian crisis that is affecting the people that are more vulnerable.

Even before we started our little website to share the works of art created by the artists and artisans of our village with the world, we always been committed to help our community.
The meaning behind the artworks that we create is a universal message of compassion and kindness toward each other, and we try as much as we can to live according to these values.
We strongly believe that our generous customers and all our friends that follow us on instagram, twitter, facebook and other social media are moved by the same spirit.

During these years we promoted and participated to several projects that were successful also thanks to help of many of you.
We are sponsoring a beautiful project carried on by Girls Empowered by Travel – Nepal that is currently distributing rice, flour, lentils, oil, salt and milk to vulnerable women: pregnant or new mothers, single mothers and elderly women in three rural communities: Sarlahi, Changunarayan and Gre.

Please share the link of the campaign of GET-Nepal project on GoFundme and if you can please contribute with a small donation.
$10 can feed a family for one week!

GoFundme Lockdown donations

Thank you.

Our Thangka on Display at The British Library Exhibition in London

Buddhist Art in London

British Library art exhibition – Buddhism origins, traditions and contemporary life.

Since the first seven steps that prince Siddhartha Gautama walked right after his birth in a garden in Lumbini to his death in Kushinagar, Buddha’s life story and teachings inspired cultures all across Asia and Buddhism became one of the world’s biggest religions. The different approaches to the Buddhist philosophy in different countries created a rich diversity of traditions and lineages that vary tremendously from region to region.

Today the Buddhist principles of compassion and tolerance, the practice of meditation and mindfulness and the concept of enlightenment have crossed over into Western culture acquiring a global scale. However not so many people are aware of the vaste diversity of the cultural footprints that Buddha’s journey left around the world. The current exhibition on Buddhism at the British Library in London wants to be a showcase of this journey.

https://youtu.be/06EhjV8UQO8

Among delicate scriptures, illustrations painted on tree barks or leaves, silk scrolls of sutras and ancient objects, the show displays more then 120 artifacts from 20 countries and it covers a time span of 2,000 years.

We are happy and honored to announce that among these beautiful artworks you can admire the thangka painting of the Wheel of life painted by our master artist Buddha Lama and adorned with a silk brocade created by our dear tailor Susmi Tamang.

Wheel of Life Thangka at British Library

The British Library dedicated an entire wall to the thangka and it is on display until the 23 of February 2020 as centerpiece of the exhibition!

The wheel of life thangka at the British Library

Both master Lama and Mrs. Tamang, our thangka school and all our team is deeply grateful to the lead curator of the exhibition Jana Igunma for commissioning the thangka, for her passion, kindness and care. Thank you also to all the staff of the British Library for such an amazing opportunity and for the generous contribution to the artists and artisans of our community.

Curators of the Exhibition

Sadly it’s not possible for us to attend to this beautiful event however we are all following with excitement the articles, the twits and the photos that many visitors are posting on social media. Here some images:

The British Library also planned a series of events during the exhibition. People that are interested in the Buddhist teachings and practices can join different courses and classes on Mindfulness, Buddhist art, meditation, Zen calligraphy and much more.
You can find more info and the schedule of these events at the British Library official website.
Buddhism Exhibition Banner

If you are in London or you plan to visit the city during the coming holidays don’t miss the exhibition, it is open until 23 of February 2020.
More info at: British Library Buddhism Event.
Email: [email protected]
Contact number: +44 (0)1937 546060.
They offer 10% discount on groups of 10+ people or if you book online.

Namaste.

Nepal Flood July 2019 – Report from Changu

Images of the flood in Nepal 2019

Rising water level in a stream at Kalanki in Kathmandu July 2019. Photos of Sanjog Manandhar – Kathmandu Post

We are having heavy rainfall especially in the past 3 days and it is still raining today. Many places in Kathmandu valley and southern Nepal have been flooded.
We cannot reach Bhaktapur (only 8km from Changunarayan) because the main access road is totally flooded and the steep road downhill is full of mud and big rocks.

main roads flooded by the waters

View of the bus park and the main road flooded in Changunarayan, Nepal – July 2019[

All roads to Kathmandu have been cut off and many areas are without electricity and phone lines are off as well. The rescue teams are trying to reach these areas by helicopters.
There are reports of landslides from villages where our relatives live in the areas of Kavre and Sindhupalchock, also few casualties were reported. Today we managed to talk to our families and friends on the phone and they are safe. The fields are covered in mud and stones, and the crop are damaged or lost and they have a total blackout since days. The electric poles are very dangerous in Nepal especially in case of floods.
Here some pictures from Kavre taken by the relatives of Mira and Kabita, two of our dear master artists.

flooded crop

Nepal flood pictures

Landslides-in-Kavre-Nepal-2019

Mud-slide-Nepal-Flood-2019

 

Following few videos showing the magnitude of the flooding – Videos by Sanish Jalmi Maharjan.

It is still raining, but less and the weather should get better in the next days as we keep our hope high.

There is a saying in Tibetan: “Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.”
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.
~ the Dalai Lama

We are sorry to delay the shipments of the artworks for our kind customers. We all thank you for patience, your nice messages and prayers. We will answer your emails as soon as possible.

Namaste.

The Importance of Our Heritage: Changu Narayan Nepal 2020 Campaign

Visit Nepal 2020 EXPO

Many people visiting our village walk happily along the small old streets around the ancient decorated buildings, the forest, the temples and shrines and houses, some still damaged like our art school, but the reconstruction works continues and we hope they will be finished soon.
We sometimes forget the importance and the value behind the beauty that we are surrounded with during our daily life but we know, as most of the people coming to visit our village realize, that we live in a very special place.
In fact behind the history of the first rocks that were posed in Changu Narayan there are beautiful Hindu and Buddhist stories and legends that belongs to the whole humanity.

Nepal 2020

Nepal is preparing to host an important international EXPO in 2020. An event about the importance of the world cultural heritage. As Nepali we feel like we are all part of it as we all have worked hard to support our communities recovering since the earthquakes of 2015.
The struggle and the effort that the people of Nepal with the contribution of many coming from all around the world, working together to rebuild our small and slowly developing country, will be finally rewarded.

official campaign Nepal 2020

Our team and community of artists did what we could with the little we had, collaborated and worked together with our villagers and organizations like Kay Garnay for Nepal and other like minded businesses like Changu Farm House and many many people coming from all around the world, visiting our beautiful place.
Together we financed and co-managed projects to build shelters, provide warm clothes to rural villagers, organized cleanups and several other activities to improve the quality of life of our lovely community, and showed to the world the little explored beauties and treasures that our unique heritage temple village has to offer.

Traditional Art of Nepal

Six years ago, we started this website with the intend to open the doors of our thangka art school and workshops to the digital world.
At the time we were already hosting and providing meals to 12 young artists coming from remote villages of Kavre and Sindhupalchok. Sixteen all together living and practicing in the thangka painting school and gallery so people walking by could admire both the artworks and the artists.

To understand what was our starting point please watch this beautiful video that Crystal Bell realized after visiting our art school.

Thangka: A Journey of Discovery


For us the idea to sell online our artworks was incredible, almost impossible at first, because we barely had 8 hours of electricity every day, sometimes none and the wifi was a luxury.
When the website was online we were a little concerned also because our English was not good but we had many great people helping and we were so exited even to receive and read a message coming from a visitor admiring our art on the screen of their computer.
When the first order arrived we were full of joy.
After two years the website started growing in traffic as we received more and more orders. It was very challenging but we where doing our best and thanks to the success we were able to host 6 young students more.

The Earthquakes of 2015

It is difficult to describe how deep was the shock that the earthquakes of 2015 provoked in all of us. The magnitude of this event is present in our lives still today.
It was Saturday morning, the rest day of the week in Nepal so most of the people were outside or doing puja and school is off as well.
In the drama we were lucky somehow. The death toll could have been worse.
Sadly we had few deaths in our village but way less than other villages nearby like Sankhu, or Bhaktapur the main city at the foothill of Changunarayan.
After dealing with the emergency and the confusion and fears of the first days we slowly adapted to the new reality.
It took us almost 6 weeks to be back online.
During this time we collaborated with many people helping of our community and villages around and thanks to volunteers and even friends that sent their messages through the website we also co-funded a local NGO.
However there were no tourists anymore and selling online was our last resource, also to gather money to finance the volunteering projects.
Plus the art school partially collapsed and the rest of the structure was severely damaged. The owner of the building had his house damaged as well so he could only afford to fix his own house. Also our families had damages or loss of structures so we were living in a difficult condition while the tremors of the aftershocks accompanied our daily life for more than one year since that Saturday.
During the monsoon season we placed few good orders so managed to find accommodation for the artists and helped building shelters for homeless families and elders.

The Long Winter

While the cold season was approaching we started collecting warm clothes and other donations in form of stationary items for school kids, water filters and whatever could help.
After the first few deliveries to Sindhupalchok the news came out that the import of all good coming from India where blocked at the border. We don’t want to enter in the political merit of the blockade but the consequences of this block were suddenly evident.
No gasoline, no cooking gas, even less electricity and higher prices basically for everything.
That winter was one of the longest winter we ever felt.

Bistari Bistari

Nepal is still today a country with many issues and many people lack basic needs however we have proven to have a strong temperament as we keep smiling at life.
We sincerely hope that the coming EXPO and campaign #VisitNepal2020 will help not only people coming to enjoy the beauty of our country but also to promote projects for a sustainable development of Nepal.

Here a short interview to our master artist Kamal Bhujel realized by an amazing organization called Girls Empowered by Travels that operates in Nepal.


Gratitude

The construction works of the art school started only last year and it should be completed soon.
We again want to thank you all the warm-hearthed people that that kept our hope high and helped us during these difficult years: our amazing customers, all the volunteers, the donors, the photographers and video makers, web designers and people that, bistari bistari (“slowly slowly” in Nepali language), contributed and keep working for what we believe are beautiful and important things in life.
Blessings.

To learn more about the historical importance of Changu Narayan check these beautiful videos:

Changunarayan Heritage Videos

A Walk Around Changunarayan Temple

A video shot in Changu by Chris Love after the Earthquakes


Changu Narayan Heritage: Global Treasure Video

Global Treasure Video Nepal

A Video of the Oldest Hindu Temple in Nepal with Murchunga (Nepali mouth harp) Music Intro

If you would like to support #VisitChangu2020 please share this post and subscribe to our Youtube Channel.
Namaste.

1 2 3 11

How To Order

Please contact us before placing an order.
To check the prices choose your favorite design and select quality and size.
Click on “Product Inquiry” specifying your selection and we will send you pictures of the artworks that are immediately available for your consideration.

All our works of art are handmade and each one is unique.
If we don't have what you are looking for, we will make it for you according to your preferences. We also accept commissions of custom designs.

Shipping and Payments

We offer a traceable shipping service that delivers in 5 to 10 working days worldwide. Check the shipping costs by selecting your country on the cart page. We accept PayPal, debit/credit cards and bank wire transfers provided by wise.com

Cart

Artworks on Sale

Popular

Donate

Since the earthquakes of 2015 we contribute to the restoration of our village and support projects of non profit and grassroots NGOs.

ShareShare on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on RedditShare on TumblrEmail this to someone