People

Lobsang Choegyal, Founder & Master Painter

Lobsang (Lochoe) Choegyal was born in Tibet. He has studied Tibetan thangka painting since 1988 under the guidance of Master Tempa Choephel, a master teacher at the prestigious Norbulingka Institute in Dharamsala, India. Norbulingka is a center for preserving Tibetan arts and culture, where Lochoe worked as an artist and assistant master until 2000. He then founded the Thangde Gatsal Art Studio and School where he teaches traditional thangka painting. He is committed to the practice and preservation of Tibetan thangka art.

Sarika Singh, Director

Sarika Singh is from an Indian Buddhist family and was raised in Delhi before coming to Dharamsala in 1996. She is one of the few Indian women thangka painters and is a unique link between the Indian and exiled Tibetan communities. She enrolled in the thangka painting program at the Norbulingka Institute and studied there under the Tibetan Master Lobsang Choegyal. Sarika has continued to study and develop as a thangka painter, while also teaching courses and supervising students from around the world at Thangde Gatsal. In 2006 she was honored at the Lady Shri College for Women as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Delhi, India.

Lobsang and Sarika’s partnership, in their work and marriage, supports their creativity and their desire to serve others. They execute private commissions for individuals and organizations and work on a variety of projects and exhibits worldwide. Their accomplishments include:

• 2007- Featured artist during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings in New Zealand, Germany, New York, and Bloomington, Indiana
• 2006 - Featured artist during teachings in New York by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• 2005 - Being invited to His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings in Tucson, Arizona as the official artists for the event. They provided the two main paintings along with an exhibit of thangka paintings.
• 2004 - Teaching thangka painting, as visiting artists, at the University of Denver in Colorado.
• 2003 - Exhibiting their work at the October Gallery in London for "Radiant Transmission: Contemporary Masterpieces of Tibetan Buddhist Art."
• 2002 - Being selected to paint the four official paintings for the Kalachakra Initiation Ceremony given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Graz, Austria.
• 2000 - Founding the Thangde Gatsal Art Studio and School.

Leah Carnahan

Leah Carnahan lived in India for 10 years practicing meditation. An artist herself, she taught children to create and be expressive, offering ongoing classes from her home in the Himalayas. Visiting Dharamsala in 1998 she met Sarika and Lobsang. The devotion and passion that Sarika expressed in her paintings was exceptional, and inspired Leah to help her sell her first paintings. She enjoyed promoting Sarika and the paintings and began to sell them internationally. When Sarika and Lobsang started the Studio, she decided to create this website to raise awareness about the Thangde Gatsal and generate donations. It has been a life long dream for Leah to support artists and help to provide them with an atmosphere where they may flourish. Leah continues to work maintaining the website, offering customer service and hosting an educational slide show for museums and art galleries on the process of creating a traditional thangka painting.

Roscoe E. Hill

As a professor at the University of Denver in Colorado, Roscoe traveled to Dharamsala with students in winter of 2002. Incredibly moved by the mission of Thangde Gatsal, Professor Hill has spent the past five years aligning students and Thangde Gatsal for volunteer experiences each year. Through these interactions, students have had the opportunity to be exposed to and moved by the studio, and have also played a role in assisting Thangde Gatsal on various projects. Not only has Roscoe brought a yearly supply of energetic student volunteers to Thangde Gatsal, he also has been a personal supporter. He continues to sponsor students, has become a founding member, and has played an integral in generating awareness and donations in America. Roscoe’s enthusiasm for Thangde Gatsal allowed him to conduct a successful fundraiser, brining in more than $10,000 towards the construction of the new studio. The continued support and encouragement Roscoe gives through his time, dedication, and passion has helped make the studio what it is today.

Board of Directors

Leah Carnahan, Roscoe Hill, Glenn Fee, Ben Brooks.

Legal

Legal work for processing the international non-profit status of Thangde Gatsal by Martha Feltenstein and assistant Emily Satterwaite.