SNEAP Year 18 Presentation: Lao Temple Carving

SubjectPortrait of Khoutavong Yongchaiyuth (Laotian)

SubjectPortrait of Xiao Phommachack (Laotian)

SubjectPortrait of Somchan Onsopha (Laotian)

Date2016 September 25

Mediumborn digital photography

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

CopyrightIn Copyright

Object number2015.196.393.1-.27

DescriptionPhotographs from a required public presentation by the Year 18 apprenticeship team in Lao Buddhist temple art and masonry. The apprenticeship featured teaching artist Khoutavong and apprentice monks Xiao Phommachack and Somchan Onsopha. The images show constructions and carvings on the grounds of the Wat Lao Ariyamettaram temple in Morris, Connecticut.

2015.196.393.1-.5: Images of statues and sculptures being constructed by Khout and apprentices on the temple grounds.

2015.196.393.6-.7: Images of a new Buddhist shrine building being constructed.

2015.196.393.8: Image of a Buddhist house of worship that Khout recently built on the temple grounds.

2015.196.393.9-.12: Images of decorative fetures on the new building.

2015.196.393.13-.14: Images of the deity sculptures on the temple grounds.

2015.196.393.15: Image of two animal sculptures.

2015.196.393.16: Image of flags and flowering shrubs along driveway.

2015.196.393.17-.19: Images of devotional statues outside on the temple grounds.

2015.196.393.20: Image of an altar with a Buddha statue inside the house of worship on the temple grounds.

2015.196.393.21-.23: Images of the apprentices, monks Xiao and Somchan.

2015.196.393.24: Image of decorative molds for masonry carvings.

2015.196.393.25-.26: Images of decorative elements of temple buildings.

2015.196.393.27: Image of the apprentices, monks Xiao and Somchan.

NotesSubject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society.

As part of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Year 18 (2015-2016), Khoutavong was a mentor to two monks, Xiao Phommachack and Somchan Onsopha, from the Smithfield, Rhode Island Lao temple who learning to build, restore, and decorate Lao spiritual statues and buildings. Over an intensive few weeks, the young monks from Rhode Island gained skills of designing, molding, casting, cutting, and applying that will help them to revitalize the older structures at their temple. This apprenticeship was coordinated by Silaphone Nhongvongsouthy, a cultural leader in the Lao community in Rhode Island. She facilitated the public presentation of the group’s learning at Lao Buddha Ariyamettaram Temple in Morris, Connecticut.

Biographical Note: Khoutavong Yongchaiyuth, traditional Lao ceremonial woodcarver, serves as the resident monk of the Wat Lao Ariyamettaram Lao temple in Morris, rural northwestern Connecticut, having moved there from the temple in Danbury. Khout has been a monk since he was fourteen years old, and in the temple in Laos he learned woodcarving, sculpture, stonemasonry, and painting. He was brought to the US in 1999 by the resident monk in Danbury to build decorative stone and woodwork, and he practices the same traditional crafts at the temple in Morris where he serves the spiritual needs of the Lao community. Khout was also invited to St. Petersburg, Florida to build a temple and carve several sculptures, which took him only a month. He has passed on his knowledge to other Lao Americans, teaching the young monks from the large Lao community in western Rhode Island, in Year 18 (2015-2016) of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

As part of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Year 18 (2015-2016), Khout was a mentor to two monks, Xaiyo and Somchay, from the Smithfield RI Lao temple who learning to build, restore, and decorate Lao spiritual statues and buildings. Over an intensive few weeks, the young monks from RI gained skills of designing, molding, casting, cutting, and applying that helped them to revitalize the older structures at their temple. This apprenticeship was coordinated by Silaphone Nhongvongsouthy, a cultural leader in the Lao community in Rhode Island. She facilitated the public presentation of the group’s learning at Lao Buddha Ariyamettaram Temple in Morris CT

Subject Note: Wat Lao Buddha Ariyamett Aram Temple, Morris CT is a center for the Lao community and their Buddhist worship, situated on several acres of land in rural northwestern Connecticut. Founded in 2002, the temple has beautiful statues of deities and traditional figures as well as several buildings for worship and community gatherings, many of those decorated and constructed in traditional fashion by the resident monk. Khoutavong Yongchaiyuth, traditional Lao ceremonial woodcarver, serves as the resident monk of the Wat Lao Ariyamettaram Lao temple in Morris, rural northwestern Connecticut, having moved there from the temple in Danbury. Khout has been a monk since he was fourteen years old, and in the temple in Laos he learned woodcarving, sculpture, stonemasonry, and painting. He was brought to the US in 1999 by the resident monk in Danbury to build decorative stone and woodwork, and Khout practices the same traditional crafts at the temple in Morris where he serves the spiritual needs of the Lao community. CCHAP has documented activities at the temple over many years, including New Year festivals, the water ceremony, temple dedications, and led a cultural tourism group to visit the temple in 2006. CCHAP connected the temple and community to a 2007 WNPR project on health care in Connecticut ethnic communities. As part of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Year 18 (2015-2016), Khout was a mentor to two monks, Xaiyo and Somchay, from the Smithfield RI Lao temple who came to the temple to learn how to build, restore, and decorate Laotian spiritual statues and buildings. Over an intensive few weeks, the young monks from RI gained skills of designing, molding, casting, cutting, and applying that helped them to revitalize the older structures at their temple. They presented their learning at a festival at the temple in 2016.

Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these artists.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

Status

Not on view