For my first conversation with artists who are melting divisional walls of convention, I was delighted to chat with Faith Stone. Faith is helping to keep a traditional art form alive, the dying art of woodblock prints, an art that she has become impassioned over, but an art form rarely in the hands of a woman, let alone a woman out of context. She is also on a mission to help bring together artists and religions from all over the world in a community of creative harmony. And if this type of community speaks to you, keep reading right to the end.
We discussed the systemic gender issues within Buddhism, a problem that many female Buddhists and nuns are still faced with today, the generational loss of certain artistic traditions, and significantly, the challenges faced by artists who are called to create art outside of their cultural norms and social expectations.
There are events in our life that, when we pay attention, are like a message from beyond. A somatic response to something that feels like an echo, from either the past or the future, and when we pay attention, it can change everything as we start to walk that new path. And this is what happened to Faith as specific and tragic events and meetings in her life were the moments of recognition she could not remain alien from. Discovering Thangka painting once her art student days were over was a seminal moment, then she became the first student of the institute to actually complete a thangka, which changed the game and led to Faith’s artistic services being requested. Having then started a family, Faith felt creatively frozen and it wasn’t until she chanced upon an exhibition of contemporary Buddhist art, that a rapid thaw occurred. One artist in particular revolutionised her relationship with evolving Buddhist art. Karma Phuntsok, a Tibetan artist, was melting the cultural icebergs. Karma and Faith would go on to have significant impact on each other’s lives, including workshops, exhibitions and a gift of Three Precious Jewels paintings from Phuntsok for Faith’s Shoshoni Yoga retreat in Boulder, Colorado, though, thanks to Faith, these paintings now reside at the Denver Art Museum for all to see.
“I was doing more contemporary paintings when I decided to go back to teaching and wanted to teach in school, so I volunteered first. I worked in private school and found out I was really good at doing art with kids and getting them into all kinds of shows.” (Faith went on to be instrumental in getting significant museum exhibits for artists such as Karma Phuntsok).” Then I went into the public school system as a volunteer but I was so good at it that they kept me on as long as I was taking classes. So I would do whatever my students were interested in. One school had a jewellery set-up so I went and took some jewelry classes. Then they also wanted me to teach printmaking, so I took some classes at Rocky Mount College of Art and design and the teacher just offhandedly said, “You know, I think you would really like wood blocks. There’s a teacher, Hiroki Morinoue who comes to Anderson Ranch in Colorado in the summer.”
When Faith heard about it, she knew she had to learn. However, she couldn’t take a class because she was hosting her annual summer kid’s camp, which she loves. Fast forward a few years and she and her husband relocated to Hawaii again. As if fated, she discovered that just 10 minutes away from home was Donkey Mill Art Studio, where Hiroki Morinoue had his studio.
One day, she visited and met him, “I’ve been looking for you for years! I have the printmaking set and really want to study Mokuhanga with you!” He replied, “Well then, we should do a class!” This class would only have three invited students which included Mayumi Oda, a fearless and celebrated feminist artist from Japan, who also happened to live ten minutes away. She was one of the first to depict the Buddha as a woman, Jesus as black and Buddhist goddesses from multi-ethnic backgrounds, and one of the last to have an exhibition at Tibet House, in New York. “She saw me drawing and said we do the same.”
Faith had those shivers of recognition and followed the path. A path that included the integration of diversity in sacred art.
“When I visited Norbulingka, (Lhasa based institute for the preservation of traditional art) which I’d really built up in my mind, it turned out to be just a big room with a bunch of men painting. However it was interesting for me there because a passion of mine is to try to preserve and revive the wood blocks as they’re dying out, yet no one in Norbulingka was carving them. When I went to the wood carving area, it was furniture, it was metalwork. I would show different people and tell them that this is what I do, and ask if anybody else is doing this?”
Now here is one of the challenges of being a Caucasian woman doing traditionally Eastern spiritual art (in any capacity). “They would look and then they would glaze over. Like: No. That’s not possible. You’re a white woman. You can’t be doing this. When I met the top woodcarver I showed him my Vajrakilaya, which is one of my most difficult intricate pieces and took me six months to carve. He thought I was asking him if they could carve it. He looked at me and said that’s very involved with so many details. Possibly he could do it but it would take a very long time.”
Faith had to reiterate that she had already carved it and was trying to find other people who were carving, but he couldn’t hear it. “It’s so incredibly frustrating when you see that switch out. When they simply don’t hear you.” Aside from the gender bias, still sadly prevalent in Buddhism, was another sadness. An artform, more foundational than many other art forms, was slipping away from under our noses. Traditionally the woodblock prints were very labor intensive, involving many artisans to create numerous carved iterations for each color layer. However, the Mokuhanga technique involved only one, from image conception through to the final print.
This is an enormous investment of time and skill, one that is arguably either commissioned, or an investment of a privileged world rather than that of most people’s world, where the need to earn simply to meet our basic needs, usurps creativity. That world where creativity is in fact, often eroded in schools in favor of numeracy, conjugation and sciences. Where the artisans of old are simply passing away with younger generations unwilling or unable to take on the baton. Where places like Japan, crafting the woodblock prints, the very medium that carried the teachings of Buddhism into the country, simply stopped being practiced. Yet, as an irony, today, it is mostly women who are keeping this art alive. Workshops filled with female carvers.
With the loss of Tibet House that hosted Tibetan Buddhist art exhibitions, there is a realization that there are very few spaces for this community of contemporary artists. Traditional doors are closing or already closed to the contemporary or non-traditional, and Western galleries, irrelevant of their “endo-religious art” section, seem to dislike the religious aspect. Faith hopes to help change that, having experienced this prejudice herself when one of her pieces was technically exhibited, but in the back kitchen of the exhibit space. “Perhaps I can create a platform that is open to all schools and artists who engage in contemporary Hindu and Buddhist art. So, I’ve started working on this idea.” And she is well positioned to do this.
“I believe this is an emerging art form, and it is incredibly important. Just as the Buddha’s appearance changed as Buddhism spread from India to China to Tibet, each region has its unique representation of the Buddha. Now, it’s time to see how our Western Buddhas will look, reflecting the influences of European, American, and even African cultures. One outcome of the Chinese invasion is that Tibetan Buddhism has spread everywhere, evolving according to each culture it touches.”
Likewise, Taras and other female deities were represented according to the period of time and place in which they were painted. Now is no different.” And if the Buddha, deities and devas are representative of inner qualities as much as anything else, there is an arguable obligation to evolve beyond zealotry or romantic nostalgia.
“We can’t help but be influenced by our cultural backgrounds and instead of trying to remain strictly traditional, we should embrace these influences. We should explore what the Buddha might look like in our culture and time. I’m very interested in different religions coming together. We participate in Colorado with various religious alliances, including Christians, Hindus, and others. If anyone else wants to join us in shining a light on the work we do, it would greatly help. I am doing my best to support others by sending artwork and helping organize and spread the word. I would love to see more collaboration and unity, rather than focusing on differences. My goal is to create a community of harmony where we can help each other, and one of my main goals is to try to get images of Buddha or Tara into as many homes as possible. That’s why printmaking is a good vehicle for me, because you can make multiples of an image.” and still employ the hands-on act of creativity, which resonates very differently from that of digital and AI created work.
As part of this important mission, Faith is hosting an exhibition at Shoshoni yoga retreat in Colorado.
“Lotus and Lion” A Contemporary Exploration of Buddhist and Hindu Spiritual Art
There is an international call to artists wishing to participate with an entry deadline of 4/16/25 with the exhibit dates running from 5/23/25 to 9/2/25 and a $35 fee.
Contact the Shoshoni Yoga retreat or directly to [email protected] and find her and reach out on Instagram or Facebook.
