Meeting the Dalai Lama (from Focus on the Masters, a Conversation with Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo)

Focus on the Masters (FOTM) is a non-profit art appreciation program that documents, preserves and presents the works and lives of accomplished contemporary artists, emphasizing the importance of the arts to a healthy society.

Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo is a contemporary textile artist and caretaker of a sacred Tibetan tradition: silk appliqué thangka.

A Conversation with Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo is the edited version of Leslie’s FOTM Artist Spotlight interview filmed live on March 28, 2015 at the Brooks Institute. The interview, hosted by FOTM founder Donna Granata, took place as part of Leslie’s formal documentation for the FOTM Archive & Library. The all-encompassing documentation includes extensive oral histories, a videotaped public interview, digitized library of the artist’s work, and collection of historic photographs and ephemera. Established in 1994, Focus on the Masters, one of the oldest arts organizations in Ventura, is dedicated to celebrating and documenting artists in our community. Monthly artist interviews are open to the public, and lessons based on documented artists are included in the award-winning Learning To See school outreach program.

Just as Leslie puts together bits and pieces of materials to create a thangka, she also put together funding to create this film through a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

Visit the Video page and scroll down to the bottom to watch the full one-hour Conversation with Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo.