Tag Archives: Miya Ando

Award-winning artist, Miya Ando, helps Tibetan Buddhist nuns with online auction

Miya Ando, the renowned New York minimalist artist, has created a special series of five mandalas to be auctioned online to raise funds for the Tibetan Nuns Project, a registered charity based in Seattle and India.

All proceeds of the sale of the works, after the small fees from the auction house, will be donated by the artist to the Tibetan Nuns Project and will be used to provide food, shelter, education, and health care to over 700 Tibetan Buddhist nuns living at seven nunneries in northern India.

Miya Ando, bodhi leaf, meditation mandala, Tibetan Nuns Project, Paddle8 Auction

Miya Ando’s Dark Red Small Bodhi Leaf Meditation Mandala, 21×21 inches, framed, dyed bodhi skeleton leaves, monofilament, ragboard, 2015.

Online Auction of Unique Mandalas by Miya Ando
May 26-June 9 2016

Miya Ando has created a series of mandalas in the colors of Tibetan prayer flags. To create the works she’s used skeleton leaves from the Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) that she has bleached, dyed, and sewn.

bodhi leaf, prayer flag, Miya Ando, Tibetan Nuns Project, Paddle8

Miya Ando’s five prayer flags made from Bodhi leaves being auctioned online through Paddle8 from May 26 to June 9 2016 with proceeds going to the Tibetan Nuns Project

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Award-winning artist Miya Ando auctions paintings for Buddhist nuns

Artist Miya Ando donates prayer flag paintings to Tibetan Nuns Prohect

Award-winning artist Miya Ando

Miya Ando, the renowned New York artist, has created a special series of paintings that will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Tibetan Nuns Project, a registered charity based in Seattle and India.

All proceeds of the sale of the paintings, after the small fees from the auction house, will be donated by the artist to the Tibetan Nuns Project and will be used to provide food, shelter, education and health care to over 700 Tibetan Buddhist nuns living in seven nunneries in northern India.

Her five prayer flag paintings on metal will be auctioned over a two-week period from March 8-23 2015. The launch of the auction will coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8th.

The online auction where the paintings may be viewed is at http://paddle8.com/auction/tibetan The auction opens on March 8 and closes on March 23 2015.

This is the second time that the award-winning artist has created a series of paintings in support of the Tibetan Nuns Project. As one journalist has noted, Ando works in cold steel, but her heart is warm and compassionate. Continue reading

A Message from the Directors of the Tibetan Nuns Project

5 Tibetan Buddhist nuns hold a thank you sign in Tibetan and EnglishThank you for being a supporter of the Tibetan Nuns Project.

You are part of a community of compassionate people who care deeply about providing equal access to education for ordained Buddhist women, about the Dharma, and about preserving Tibet’s unique culture.

We wanted to share with you some of our achievements this year that you’ve helped make possible:

  • 23 nuns reached an historic milestone when they sat the first part of the Geshema exam in May, like a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism;
  • 8 retreat huts at Dolma Ling Nunnery have been built and furnished. Now, for the first time, the nuns of Dolma Ling can go on retreat;
  • Over 400 nuns from 8 nunneries in India and Nepal have participated in the month-long Jang Gonchoe debate session in October, a special step in their learning;
  • Over 700 nuns living in exile have been provided with food, shelter, education and health care.

We still need your help urgently.

Within Tibet the situation is truly dire. There is no real freedom for the nuns there to practice their religion. They, like their sisters in India, wish nothing more than to live, study, practice, and teach in accordance with their spiritual beliefs. With your help we can ensure the survival of Tibet’s religion and culture and we can offer refuge to those who have escaped and help heal their trauma.

Inflation and rising food prices in India are stressing all of the nunneries. With hundreds of mouths to feed each day, you can imagine the effect of skyrocketing food and fuel prices. Sponsorship dollars were only meeting about 2/3rd of the daily needs of the nuns so we did a big sponsorship push this summer. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who signed up as a sponsor, who renewed a past sponsorship, or who generously agreed to increase their sponsorship contribution.

HERE ARE 7 WAYS YOU CAN HELP THE NUNS:

1. SPONSOR A NUN
For $1 a day you can sponsor a nun and help provide her with food, shelter, education and health care. 100% of the funds go directly to India and you will receive updates about the impact of your gifts.

2. MAKE A SINGLE DONATION
We have a number of current projects where you can direct your gifts or you can make an undesignated gift and we will direct the funds where they are needed most.

3. LEAVE A LEGACY OF COMPASSION
By including a gift in your will to the Tibetan Nuns Project, you will be leaving a legacy of compassion that will have a ripple effect for generations to come.

4. GIVE A GIFT IN HONOR OF SOMEONE
Celebrate a loved one this holiday season, thank a spiritual teacher, or honor the memory of someone with a gift. When you make a tribute gift, we can send a beautiful card to the person being honored.

5. BUY TNP PRODUCTS
We always have a range of products available through our online shop or by calling the office. Our products include the 2014 Calendar, malas, prayer flags, TNP sweatshirts, and much more. Many of the products are made by the nuns to generate income for the nunneries.

6. DEDICATE PRAYERS
Through our online shop you can request that the nuns say prayers or perform special pujas for you or for someone dear to you who may need spiritual help.

7. DO YOUR OWN THING!
Explore your own creative idea for helping the nuns. Every little bit helps. Whether it’s hosting a house party using our kit or coming up with your own idea, like New York artist Miya Ando who created a series of glowing “Prayer Flag” paintings and auctioned them off raising over $4,000 to help with the nuns Media Center and Café at Dolma Ling.

We’re going to give the last word to one of our supporters who wrote to tell us why the Tibetan Nuns Project was important to her:

“Each aspect you are addressing is important not just to these women, but to women, refugees, Buddhists and non-Buddhist religious women EVERYWHERE. This is a model for the future for any group of displaced, religiously persecuted, and in-need-of-support-to-sustain-themselves group. I applaud the efforts of your organization very highly.”
Linda Anne, Idyllwild CA

With our deepest thanks for your compassion and generosity,

 

Rinchen Khando Choegyal, Director
Elizabeth Napper, Co-Director

Glowing Prayer Flag paintings by Miya Ando support the nuns

Artist Miya Ando doonates prayer flag paintings to Tibetan Nuns Prohect

Miya Ando, an American post-minimalist artist in New York City, reached out to the Tibetan Nuns Project earlier this year and offered to create a special series of paintings to support the nuns.

The result of this incredible act of compassion in action is as series of 5 paintings called “Prayer Flags” that will be auctioned through the online auction house Paddle8 starting today, August 9th and closing on August 23rd. 100% of the proceeds of the sale of the paintings, after the small fees from the auction house, will be donated by the artist to the Tibetan Nuns Project. View the online auction at http://paddle8.com/auctions/tibetan.

The paintings are extra special because they glow. “I painted the backs of the paintings with phosphorescence so they absorb light during the day and at night emit a soft glow for 5 hours, like a soft halo or aura,” says Miya.

Miya is of half-Japanese and half-Russian heritage and is a descendent of Bizen sword maker Ando Yoshiro Masakatsu. She was raised in a Buddhist temple in Okayama, Japan by sword smiths-turned Buddhist priests and later in the redwoods of Santa Cruz, California. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in East Asian Studies, Ando attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery before apprenticing at the Hattori Studio in Japan.

Prayer flags are an iconic symbol of Tibet. Traditionally, prayer flags come in sets of five, arranged from left to right in a specific order: blue, white, red, green, and yellow. The five colors represent the elements and the Five Pure Lights.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space, bringing benefit to all.

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Miya Ando, Prayer Flag Blue, 2013. Dye, Pigment, Phosphorescence, Lacquer & Resin on Aluminum Plate 12 in x 12 in x 1 in (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 2.54 cm) Blue symbolizes sky and space and exemplifies the awakened mind.

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Miya Ando, Prayer Flag White, 2013. Dye, Pigment, Phosphorescence, Lacquer & Resin on Aluminum Plate 12 in x 12 in x 1 in (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 2.54 cm)The color white symbolizes the air and wind and represents the transcendent quality of diamond clarity.

Prayer Flag Red by Miya Ando

Miya Ando, Prayer Flag Red, 2013. Dye, Pigment, Phosphorescence, Lacquer & Resin on Aluminum Plate 12 in x 12 in x 1 in (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 2.54 cm) Red symbolizes fire and love and compassion.

Miya Ando, Prayer Flag Green, 2013. Dye, Pigment, Phosphorescence, Lacquer & Resin on Aluminum Plate 12 in x 12 in x 1 in (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 2.54 cm) The color green represents water and stands for meaningful action.

Miya Ando, Prayer Flag Green, 2013. Dye, Pigment, Phosphorescence, Lacquer & Resin on Aluminum Plate 12 in x 12 in x 1 in (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 2.54 cm) The color green represents water and stands for meaningful action.

 

Miya Ando, Prayer Flag Yellow, 2013. 12x12 inches, dye, phosphorescence pigment and resin on aluminum plate.

Miya Ando, Prayer Flag Yellow, 2013. Dye, Pigment, Phosphorescence, Lacquer & Resin on Aluminum Plate 12 in x 12 in x 1 in (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm x 2.54 cm) Yellow symbolizes earth and the qualities of equanimity and generosity.

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Here is a night view of the painting Prayer Flag Blue. The artist Miya Ando used phosphorescence pigment so that at night the painting glows.

Miya said, “It’s a great honor to bring attention and funding and support to the Tibetan Nuns Project. It is my belief that as a human being it is my responsibility to support others.”

Miya’s work is has been exhibited extensively throughout the world, including a recent show curated by Guggenheim curator Nat Trotman. Miya’s public commissions include projects in South Korea, London, New York and California. Her work appears in many important public and private collections and she is the recipient of the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant in 2012, the Thanatopolis Special Artist Award and Public Outdoor Commission Winner and Puffin Foundation Grant winner.

This is not the first Buddhist-themed series that Miya has created. In 2009, Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society commissioned Miya’s piece, “8-Fold Path,” which consists of a grid of four steel square canvases measuring 4 feet each. The work was featured in Shambhala Sun’s July 2009 issue for its “meditative” nature and “spiritual” influence.

Also in 2009, Miya created Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light), a grid of 144 individual 5″ x 5″ steel canvasses for the meditation room in Brooklyn’s St. John’s Bread and Life Chapel. Miya was next commissioned by The Healing Place Non Denominational Chapel to produce an installation for its women’s facility which resulted in her 40-foot, phosphorescent-coated steel piece, Shelter[Meditation 1-2], which collects sunlight during the day and radiates blue at night.

One of Miya’s most recent installations commemorates the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York City’s Twin Towers. Commissioned by the 9/11 London Project Foundation as a temporary addition to Potters Fields Park in London, England, Ando’s sculpture stands 8 meters tall and is crafted from polished World-Trade-Center steel.

The online auction closes on August 23rd, 2013 so don’t let this opportunity pass!