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Laos Essential Artistry Archive Page
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Gradually Laos Essential Artistry is becoming known and as we send out orders we always appreciate hearing back from customers. Last week we received the following email from Terry.
Hi Peter and Baythong, Well, it just got here, thank you so much!! This is one of the most beautiful things I've encountered, silk, colors, and craftmanship. (The photos at the shop are representative, but I'm not sure they do it justice.) It will be fantastic to wear... In a second email Terry wrote: "2. I went through most of the web site last night, and I love it. The cultural references and descriptions are wonderful; so much I don't know (we won't discuss products at this second, but there are many at which I just went "wow"). 3. I'm not sure about any type of web-display photography, so many variables. The pictures were what made my choice, and it was certainly accurate, but it's hard to capture the glow and color shimmer..." Thank you Terry for your kind thoughts! What we're trying to do here at Laos Essential Artistry has been a challenge and how do you create an online gallery of textiles that provides a reasonable substitute for examining the textiles in person? Not easy, and something we plan to continually work on. Terry writes that "it's hard to capture the glow and color shimmer..." of the textiles. We have thought about that a lot and have experimented by putting up one video on a post in our blog that does show the shimmering qualities of a series of textiles from Phaeng Mai Gallery that otherwise might seem quite ordinary. I think in reading Terry's comments that we'll try posting more video of the textiles to capture a more realistic perspective. It's all a learning experience, in fact one of the reasons we created the website the way we did was so our customers could not only have the opportunity to see and purchase beautiful textiles from Laos, but also have the opportunity to learn more about the textiles, artisans and weavers and Laos as expressed by Terry when he wrote "The cultural references and descriptions are wonderful." Reading comments like Terry's makes us hopeful we're on the right path! by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments 
Saturday, September 20, 2008
We subscribe to the Vientiane Times online website and read last week that an essay about wearing Lao sins won the SEA write Award.
In the article it was stated that: "The association's Secretary-General, Mr Soubanh Luangrath, said the story highlighted the need for Lao people to preserve their traditional dress because it was an essential part of their long-standing cultural heritage. The association was particularly impressed by Mr. Othong's statement “more important are the design and pattern which show the gracefulness of the arts and crafts created by generations of Lao weavers. The skirt is an example of our valuable national heritage.” What Mr. Othong writes is so true and we're glad to help the world recognize this weaving excellence and there's no one with an online site that carries more Lao sins than Laos Essential Artistry, referred to in the article as a "skirt." The entire article is below. Traditional dress essay wins SEA Write award An essay by Mr Othong Khaminsou, titled Mother's Skirt, which encourages Lao people to preserve and wear traditional dress, has won a SEA ( South East Asia ) Write award this year. The SEA Write award ceremony will take place in Bangkok , Thailand , from September 25 to October 1 when Mr Othong will join other Asean writers nominated by their countries to receive the award. Mr Othong. Seven stories were submitted by Lao writers to the annual contest, but Mr Othong's story was voted the most outstanding in content, language and style by the Lao Writers' Association. The association's Secretary-General, Mr Soubanh Luangrath, said the story highlighted the need for Lao people to preserve their traditional dress because it was an essential part of their long-standing cultural heritage. The association was particularly impressed by Mr Othong's statement “more important are the design and pattern which show the gracefulness of the arts and crafts created by generations of Lao weavers. The skirt is an example of our valuable national heritage.” Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday at the Ministry of Information and Culture, Mr Soubanh said the Lao Writers' Association was fair in its judgement and could not change the content of any of the stories submitted. After reading Mr Othong's script, they agreed to nominate Mother's Skirt for an award. “I didn't expect to win the award because the last four articles I submitted to the contest only got second place. This time I wasn't very hopeful because I was sort of getting used to coming in second. But I persevered because it is our duty as writers to publish,” said Mr Othong, who is Director and Editor-in-Chief of Vannasin magazine. Mr Othong's story was based on fact and events that happened in 1990 when he first wrote about this topic. He was inspired by a colleague who bought an old silk skirt in a market for the very low price of 15,000 kip. She liked the skirt for its traditional design and fine lines. As Mr Othong was considering this, he arrived home and was told by his brother about people who were coming to their village to buy old silk textiles. His brother was amazed because the sinh they were buying were old and torn, but most were fetching prices ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 kip. “Those who were buying sinh for about 15,000 kip were happy because they felt they were getting a good price, but the people who lived and made the garments in the countryside were proud to get just 4,000 to 5,000 kip,” Mr Othong said Comparing these prices, one sees that some people appreciated the value of these garments and their worth for the nation, but those who didn't realise value of the sinh they owned were prepared to let them disappear, he said. “The purpose behind my story was to convince people to preserve traditional dress to reflect our culture. In particular I wanted to reach out to those who don't understand the importance of preserving this tradition. Even though we might not wear sinh as often as in the past, we should keep alive the method of making them so that we can show them to the world.” Since 1998 eleven Lao writers have received SEA Write awards. By Phonesavanh Sangsomboun (Latest Update September 18, 2008) by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
This video combines a couple of clips of Bouasai weaving at Taykeo's. Now that Taykeo has complete her Museum building, all her master weavers weave on the second floor. It's a great set-up and we'll take more video of Bouasai and the other weavers when we go to Laos in December by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
 In our Laos Essential Artistry website we discuss our Fair Trade philosophy (under FAQ) and highlight our emphasis on hen-jai, the Lao word for empathy. Hen Jai literally means to see into the heart, and we thought this blog would be a great place to go more into depth about the use of the word jai (heart) in Lao language. But first we have to take you back to the summer of 1999 when there was only one bookstore in Vientiane. On Peter's second trip to Laos in the summer of 1999 he as interested in seeing if there were any books for sale that could help him understand Lao culture better since there wasn’t much about Laos available in the US, Peter searched the shelves for anything that would help him learn more about Lao culture and he came across a little booklet called Working with your Lao Partner: A guide to establishing Effective Cross Cultural Communication and Working Relationships in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, written by Bob Boase and published by UNDP. Although it was primarily written for people who would be working in Laos, Peter found it valuable for providing insights into Lao culture not available otherwise. In the chapter Understanding Lao Culture Bob wrote about how the “Lao are truly a people of the heart.” And then he included a list of expressions that include the word “jai” or “heart.” He then commented that a culture with so many shades of meaning based on the heart is a deeply sensitive culture and that one should bear this in mind before making a strong comment or taking direct action. And we would certainly agree. This reminded Peter of two other books, one written by Katherine Paterson, The Spying Heart, that unfortunately is now out of print. As is written on her website “this second volume of her speeches, book reviews, and essays, award-winning author Katherine Paterson again shares what it means to be a reader and a writer where she states that it is our task as teachers and writers, artists and parents to nourish the imagination-our own and that of the children entrusted to our care." In her chapter Sounds in the Heart she writes “Among the many Chinese and Japanese ideographs for our word idea is one that combines the character for sound with the character for heart – the heart being the seat of intelligence as well as of emotion. thus, an idea is something that makes a sound in the heart. Now, if ou want to change idea into a verb that means “to remember,” you do so by adding an extra symbol for heart. In preparing to talk of the relation of memory to writing, I tried to ask myself as objectively as I could: What are the sounds that I head in my deepest heart?” Peter read this book four or five years before he went to Laos, and consequently as a teacher he was always thinking about how ideas that he had and his students had were making sounds in their hearts. A second book Peter read before he went to Laos that made similar connections was Voices of the Heart by Ed Young. Ed Young is an illustrator of children’s books and came out with this little gift-size book in 1997. As stated in a review on the Amazon website: “In perhaps his most conceptually brilliant work to date, Young introduces 26 Chinese characters, each having the symbol for the heart as a component. An illustration on each page occupies the two-thirds closest to the margin. The outer third has an English word relating to an emotion, feeling, or moral quality (joy, shame, patience, panic, etc.) with a simple definition containing the word "heart." Each section (or radical) of the word in Chinese is listed below it with a simple definition of each part and an explanation of the whole, followed by the assembled character for the concept. The Chinese writing is in seal script, which is one of the oldest forms of the language and consequently much closer visually and conceptually to its pictographic origins than today's standard printed forms. This choice is a master stroke as it prepares the mind for the stunning collage illustrations that utilize rebus format to represent the Chinese. Illustrations are of cut paper and some cloth on various paper backgrounds; sometimes backgrounds are textured, sometimes the rebus components are. All contain a heart and are bright or somber depending on the concept conveyed.” Although it looks like it could be a book for children, really it’s adults who will appreciate it best and is a great book to give as a gift. An example of one interpretation is the word “grace.” He defines it as a heart that shows pity, illustrating that the character consists of two pictograms, one for “man” and one for “confined.” Young’s explanation of the combining of these two pictograms is “A man who is confined is oppressed. When the heart feels empathy for the oppressed, it has been touched by grace.” For us, that makes a sound in our heart and we believe will broaden anyone’s perspective, as does the understanding of how the Lao use the word for heart in so many expressions. What we want to do here is list some of the expressions containing the word “jai” and what they mean. What we hope, and would certainly like to encourage readers of this blog, please share any other words that contain the word “jai” and if you have any additional insights or stories we will add them to this blog, giving you credit if you want, or of course you can remain anonymous. One expression Bob didn’t include, is “nam jai,” meaning water from the heart which is written in Lao in the heart image in this blog. Bai is the one who told Peter about the expression and it’s a favorite of the Thai people. One of the things Peter likes to do in workshops when he talks about Lao language and the use of these expressions is to ask participants what they think a particular expression means. For example, what do you think, “nam jai” means? When would it mean for water to be coming from the heart and “what” kind of water might it be? We really like the concept of “nam jai” and encourage anyone to share an anecdote or story that would provide a more real world understanding. The photo at the beginning of this post is the Lao spelling of nam jai within a heart. OK, here are the expressions listed in the Lao Partner book. ~ to understand is to enter the heart khao jai ~ to be glad is to feel good at heart di jai ~ to be angry is to feel bad in the heart jai hai ~ to be sorry is to have lost the heart sia jai ~ to have empathy is to see the hear hen jai ~ to feel upset is to be unhappy at heart out jai ~ to be sensitive (touchy) is to have a small heart jai noy ~ to be stingy is to have a narrow heart jai khap khaep ~ to be startled is to drop the heart tok jai ~ to be absent minded is to have a heart which floats jai loy ~ to hesitate is to have many hearts lai jai ~ to be worried is to have a sick heart bo sabai jai ~ to be content is to have a serene heart sabai jai ~ to be without worries is to feel cool in the heart jai yen ~ to be generous is to have a large heart jai kuang ~ to have a heavy heart thouk jai ~ to be happy souk jai ~ to be easily persuaded is to have an easy heart jai ngai ~ to be decisive jai det ~ to be bitter to the point of revenge is to have a black heart jai dam ~ to be charitable is to have a festive heart jai boun ~ to be generous is to be big-hearted jai nyai ~ to be impatient is to have a hot heart jai hon ~ to be patient is to have a persevering heart jai o thon ~ to be honest is to have a pure heart jai bolisud ~ to be brave is to have a daring heart jai ka ~ to be timid is to have a cautious heart jai bo kai ~ to control one’s emotions is to have a strong heart jai khart by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Monday, September 15, 2008
A quandary we face in trying to sell our Lao silk textiles on the Internet, is capturing the more ethereal qualities of these deliciously woven silk textiles. Photographs can do a good job, but only one dimensionally. And so we're going to experiment including video in our blog that will provide another perspective of the more sensual qualities of these handwoven silk scarves.
The scarf we've videoed here is from our Shimmering Silk Scarf collection from Phaeng Mai Gallery. If you look only at the photos, it's impossible to tell that as the silk scarf moves in the light, because of the ribbed handwoven quality of these scarves, the colors dramatically change. The video clearly shows the shimmering quality of these scarves. These are gorgeous scarves, very soft and their neutral colors allow them to be worn with almost any outfit. by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Sunday, September 7, 2008
In many of the silk textiles we sell, nagas are important motifs. As we write in our section describing our Intertwining Nagas Silk Scarves woven at the Taykeo Textile Gallery nagas are: "...a mythological water serpent with unparalleled magic powers. Nagas can assume the form of other beings such as animals and humans. Lao legends tell of love affairs between Nagas and humans. Generally they are seen as benevolent beings, that protect and save humans from illnesses, hunger and bad spirits. When they are angry Nagas use their powers to create floods, storms and other natural disasters, or inflict illness and even death. The word Naga is from the Buddhist language Pali, in Lao it is called Nak. Nagas are a prominent feature in temple design, the spikes you see on temple roofs are in fact the horns of the Naga’s head. The Naga is important to animists as it is believed to be an ancestor spirit, whilst Buddhists revere the Naga as he saved Buddha from the floods." (Ockpoptok)
Nagas are very, very real to the Lao and in the video below a small group of villagers are returning the Naga King and the Phanya Khut to the local river after inviting them to partake in their village's celebration of Boun Kong Khao held in December after the rice harvest to thank the rice spirit for a bountiful harvest. In the video you can see they carry the kings in a respectful, royal manner, where they're sitting on a throne (pillow), accompanied by the beating of a gong and chanting of villagers. In the photo below is the cover of a paperbook book about the legend of SinXai and shows the Nak King (Phanya Nak) and Underground King (Phanya Khut). The book is in Lao and published in Laos by Dokked Publishing.  In the next photo belows is the pile of rice, "kong khao," that the villagers donated to the village wat. Boun Kong Khao is a village festival that cebrates the recent rice harvest where every villager brings a donation of rice for the wat to sell and then buy needed supplies. As you can see the rice is piled (kong) high in the wat.  If the villagers didn't invite the Phanya Nak (Naga King) and Phanya Khut (King of the Underground) and they heard people celebrating and having a good time and they weren't invited, well, they wouldn't be too happy, and might cause some kind of mischief or misfortune. Nagas are quite alive in the Lao imagination and if one spends much time in Laos, it becomes quite evident that the many naga representations, from wat gables (photo below at sunset), to carved wooden and stone figures (carved wooden naga photo taken at Wat Sisaket) and the incredibly diverse naga motifs woven into textiles, are an ample affirmation that nagas live!    Elli Findly, a professor in the Religion Department at Trinity College in Connecticut, currently researching and writing a book on Spirits in the Loom: Religion and Textiles in Northeastern Laos, emailed me back when I questioned her about what was going on in this particular grouping of motifs prominently featuring nagas in one of our Sam Neua Silk Tapestries, and replied; "As for the naga design. I call them "naga pillars" in my database - and they always have double naga heads with candle crests on them. They are often found on either side of a hong thien (candle house boat) which is what you have here, carrying the deceased's spirit, phii, to heaven. (It's funny, the funeral shaman's spirit is to go with the boat, but there are never two spirits on it.) Why there are naga pillars (or entwined nagas extending upwards) here is not clear to me, except for two things: (1) the pairing of naga (earth, subterranean waters) and hong bird (sky, heavenly guide) are a natural pairing in TAi thought as creatures of the extremes of the cosmos (and found in Mon-Khmer as naga/Garuda and in Chinese thought as dragon/phoenix), and (2) the interlaced/braided nagas are extending upwards and may be protective guides symbolically extending their protection skywards for the journey to the heavenly village, nam jao. This "naga pillar" is often found in Buddhist hangings shown as part of the architecture around settings of Buddhas, etc." I've learned, and am learning so much from Elli about the motifs used in Lao textiles. Not only are they beautiful works of art, they tell incredible, timeless stories. You can also see the pairing of opposites in the cover of the book on the Folk hero Sin Xai in the photo below the video, with the Naga and Phanya Khut/Garuda (with wings). It's all starting to fit slowly together... by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
In this post, which I will re-post occasionally, is a list of previous posts that don't appear in the Previous Post list in the archive column because they are older than the last ten posts. Each post here is linked to the entire original post. It's frustrating that since this blog has been reformated to fit within our website, we can't use the archive column on the right for lists, etc. and I want people to know as easily as possible all the posts we've written. Right now only the last ten posts appear in the archive column and then older posts are "hidden" in the weekly archive dates. We hope this helps
1st) Welcome This was our first blog entry posting on August 15 welcoming everyone to Laos Essential Artistry 2) LEA Certificate of Authenticity In this post we show photos of our Certificate of Authenticity and discuss how we authenticate the textiles we sell 3) Weaving in Nongbouathong (Includes Video) In this post we show a video of a young Lao woman weaving Tai Daeng silk scarves based on an antique Tai Daeng shaman's headcloth 4) Tai Daeng Blanket Airing Out on Fence In this post we show a photo of a blanket we saw hanging on a fence as we drove through a rural Tai Daeng village (which we consequently bought!) 5) Our Logo In this post we talk about how we created our award-winning logo! 6) Giving Back: Colin Cotterill and Big Brother Mouse In this post we feature in article from the Christian Science Monitor on Colin Cotterill and his Dr. Siri Paiboun series and how he is supporting the work of Big Brother Mouse 7) Textiles as Cultural Expressions Symposium In this post we reported on a Textiles as Cultural Expressions Symposium sponsored by the Textile Society of America, its 11th Biennial Symposium, which included a Panel Discussion on Southeast Asian Textiles 8) The Incredible Women of Muang Sing In this post we talk about the incredibly talented Tai Dam, Mien and Hmong women of Muang Sing, whose textiles we feature on our website. 9) Our Buddha Website Wallpaper Origins In this post we show how our website wallpaper was created 10) Zoomified Demystified In this post we show how we use the software Zoomify to allow our customers to look at our large textiles, like our Hmong storycloths, in closeup detail 11) The Soul of Hmong New Year In this post we include a wonderful photo we took of four young Hmong girls during Hmong New Year in a rural village in Huaphan Province. We love this photo so much we also had a series of three paintings done by Khamla portraying the same scene. 12) Buddhist Monk's Robe Ritual In this post we show a series of ten photos I took of a monk putting on his robe before going to the temple. I think the photos portray how meaningful it is for the monks to put on their robes. by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Saturday, September 6, 2008
I took this series of photos in Vientiane as a monk was putting on his robe before evening chanting. And what is the significance of the Buddhist monks' robes?
The scholar Leedom Lefferts wrote in The Secrets of Southeast Asian Textiles: Myth, Status and the Supernatural published by the James HW Thompson Foundation. "One of the most distinctive set of clothes in Theravada Buddhist Southeast Asia is monks' robes. The saffron, earthen color of these robes, the ways they are made, their style of wearing, and the quantity of cloth all serve to separate their wearers from the surrounding lay population... these pieces of cloth - are designed to be worn by the adepts of a faith dedicated to renunciation [and] embody power, prestige, and status. It is quite clear that men wearing the three robes designated by the Buddha as the uniform of those who would go forth to carry his findings into the world are accorded respect, authority, and power far beyond that of any person in lay attire, no matter how ornate... During the Buddha's lifetime and certainly since, these robes have become distinguishing symbols of the power of his thoughts and of the organization of monks and novices, the Sangha, phrasong, who personify and carry on these thoughts."          by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
 When I saw these four young girls as we walked through a Hmong village north of Sam Neua in December 2006 I knew there was something special here. I started taking photos and surprisingly they didn't run away or cover their eyes, but looked right at me and actually came together for this informal portrait.Like the photo of the young woman washing her hair, my wife's sister's boyfriend also created a series of three paintings with these four young girls as the main subject. Below is a photo of the first one in the series. Khamla's paintings are some of the best we've seen in Laos and we feel fortunate we can see them here at Laos Essential Aristry. |
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