Project 4: Sending Two Mongolian Lamas to the Portals to Shangri-La Exhibit Opening in Atlanta. Feb 8, 2006 (Project completed)
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Lufthansa Airlines kindly offered not only to transport our artwork for us for the Atlanta exhibit Portals to Shangri-La: Masterpieces from Buddhist Mongolia, but also to fly eight guests from Mongolia to Atlanta for programs associated with the exhibit.
We decided to begin by sending two of Mongolia’s most charismatic lamas to the opening ceremony: Lama Kuntu Zangpo, who is the head of Kunga Choling Temple in Ganden Monastery (see the site www.loselingmongolia.org), and has acted as translator for the Dalai Lama on many of the latter’s visits to Mongolia; and Baasan Lama, the head of the Ling Gesar Temple in Ganden, who was one of the thirteen heroes who overthrew Communism in Mongolia in 1991.
The exhibit was part of a larger Mongolia Week in Atlanta, celebrated by the four major universities in the city and its environs: Emory, Oglethorpe, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw. Therefore in addition to chanting prayers of auspiciousness at the opening ceremony of the exhibit, the lamas gave several lectures in several of the participating universities.
We were also able to arrange for Ambassador Bold to come down from DC and address the crowd at the opening.
Our special thanks to Ganna Natyuk and his group of musicians, tsam dancers, and khumi singers, for also coming to Atlanta and performing at the opening ceremony. Ganna was one of the eight participating collectors who loaned pieces to the exhibit. In addition to this and to performing at the opening ceremony, he and his troupe of artists also performed at several other venues while in the city.
The local and national media gave considerable coverage to the exhibit. Some of this is listed on the OUMA website: (http://museum.oglethorpe.edu). Look under “Past Exhibitions” (http://museum.oglethorpe.edu/exhib.htm) and scroll down.
The local affiliate of PBS did a wonderful television documentary on the exhibit. A link to this is available on the above OUMA site, as well as on the GPTV site. |
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| Kuntu Zangpo Lama and Baasan Lama at OUMA opening |
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| Kuntu Zangpo Lama and Baasan Lama chant in front of 800 participants at the exhibit |
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| Baasan Lama lecturing at OUMA opening |
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