| The fabric thanka (gos-sku), a religious art form of Tibet, is a scroll banner with a fabric border, the imagery of which is executed with techniques of applique and embroidery. Traditionally a thanka maker learned his craft through apprenticeship. Because Tibet is undergoing political and cultural changes having an impact on the integrity of its traditions, documentation of information from an oral tradition is of value to conserve an endangered art form. In this dissertation an attempt was made to document the fabric thanka as a living tradition, specifically focusing on the style and techniques used by a thanka maker of the gos-sku from the Nechung Monastery tradition which dates from the seventeenth century.;The procedural model for attempting an outside understanding of another culture was "The Artist as Researcher," by David W. Ecker (1990). Techniques of the Nechung Monastery were learned by working with a monk of that artistic tradition and producing a fabric sampler. Observations of artistic activity, interviews, recording by tape and film, and note-taking were undertaken, culminating in visual and written documentation. A glossary of stitches and a glossary of Tibetan words were developed to broaden understanding of the fabric thanka and diagrams were constructed to clarify understanding of techniques. Data collection took place in Ladakh, in Tibet, in China, and in the United States.;In assessing the status of the fabric thanka as a living tradition, it was necessary to consider the fact that the culture is rapidly disintegrating within Tibet proper, and that transplantation of the Tibetan lifestyle into other economic, technological, and geographic arenas could result in changes to this tradition. Ten questions were posed to determine "what was the case," and to record "what is the case" of the tradition today. |
