Silk Thangka | The Artist

Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo

Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo (aka Leslie Freilich) spent four years in the practical study of this ancient art form under the guidance of Tibetan master craftsmen in India. After earning Masters degrees in Management and Urban Planning from UCLA, she was managing a housing development program in Boston when, in 1992, motivated by her concern for the Tibetan cause and her interest in Buddhism, she went to Dharamsala, India to volunteer for the Tibetan government in exile. During a brief visit to handicraft sites as part of her work for the Tibetan Planning Council, she first saw and was captivated by the colors, forms, and textures of this art form upon seeing a Garuda image in production at the Norbulingka Institute. An earlier interest in quilting was reawakened and she was drawn to the colors and forms of this art as she had previously been to the colors and forms of Amish quilts. On that day she became determined to learn to create these images herself, having no idea that this would become her life's work. In three years of full-time apprenticeship to master T.G. Dorjee Wangdu, she participated in the creation of pieced and embroidered thangkas for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Namgyal Monastery, Gyuto Tantric College, Sogyal Rinpoche, and others. Leslie is one of few non-Tibetans and probably the only Westerner to be formally trained in this traditional art form, and she is now qualified to produce her own thangkas.