Hidden Treasures Exhibit: Pah Khuane by Manola Sidara
Subject
Manola Sidara
Laotian
Date2001
MediumPositive Color Film Slide
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
DescriptionSlide photograph of Manola Sidara’s pah khuane, Lao paper ornaments, displayed in CCHAP's "Hidden Treasures: Works by Connecticut Folk and Traditional Artists" exhibit at the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Gallery 2001.
Object number2015.196.1129.3
CopyrightIn Copyright
NotesBiographical Note: Manola Sidara is a Lao dance educator and community activist whose life has been devoted to serving her community. Born in 1969 in Vientiane, Laos, Manola joined the National Dance School at the age of five, along with her sister. After her family fled Laos, she continued learning traditional dance with master dancer Sone Norasing in Colorado until moving to Connecticut in 1989. From her grandmother and aunts Manola learned to make pah khuane, the ornaments of bamboo leaves and flowers which are part of every Lao ceremony and celebration in both temple and home. She worked as a wedding consultant, organizing all the arrangements for traditional Lao weddings, and became known as a brilliant cake decorator. Manola helped to produce the exhibit The Ties That Bind: Southeast Asian Wedding Traditions at the Institute for Community Research (ICR) in 1995. In 1999-2000 she served as the Bilingual Program Assistant at Garfield School in Bridgeport, teaching ESOL, computers, and cultural awareness to elementary school children both Lao and Latino. Manola taught traditional dance at the Lao Saturday School in New Britain from its inception. With her high-school age students from the school, Manola formed the Lao Narthasin Dance Troupe, instructing the members in classical Laotian dance, folk dances of different ethnic groups in Laos, and traditional values and manners such as respectful behavior, honoring elders, and service to the family and community. The dance group, which has performed throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island at cultural centers and Lao temples, now includes a third generation of dancers. From 1998 to 2001 Manola was the New Britain Coordinator for the Urban Artists Initiative, a statewide training program run by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Institute for Community Research. In 2001 Manola received an award from the Lao Association of CT at New Year for her work with the Lao Narthasin dancers and was selected as a CT Commission on the Arts Master Teaching Artist. In 2011 Manola coordinated the community oral history project After the Trauma: Holocaust Survivors and Laotian Refugees Confront the Past, displayed at the University of Hartford. Manola is also known as a master chef at East West Grille, her award-winning and beloved Lao-Thai restaurant on New Park Avenue in Hartford from 2000-2019, and the East-West Grille Food Truck. Manola is very active in assisting the Lao Temple in Morris, CT, with cultural programming, social service, and providing food for the monks and their ceremonies. For Manola, her tireless activities in dance, education, ceremonial decorations, and cooking all promote wellness, spirituality, bonding, and healing.Subject Note: Pah Khuane - Originally made from banana leaves, these ornamental sculptures are used in Lao ceremonies and celebrations as a focal point for gathering people together and encouraging health and healing. They can also be an altar piece for a wedding ceremony, or given to people coming out of hospital to replenish their spirit. Khuan means spirit, and the decorations carry strings which are symbols of bonding and holding of the spirit, as also seen in Lao Buddhist ceremonies when the monk will tie a string around someone’s wrist as a sign of spiritual connection and well-being.
Subject Note: Hidden Treasures: Works by Connecticut Folk and Traditional Artists - February - March, 2001, was displayed in the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Gallery, 755 Main Street, Hartford. This location was on the ground floor of the Gold Building which housed Fleet Bank and United Technologies. The exhibit featured 27 folk and traditional artists whose fine work made by hand in Connecticut was rarely exhibited. The artists represented a wide range of ethnic and occupational communities located across the state. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program curated this exhibit to celebrate a decade of its work with folk and traditional artists in communities throughout Connecticut. Curator Lynne Williamson gave a gallery talk on Thursday March 1, 2001, followed by a reception to honor the artists.
Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for all this artists and their communities.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
On View
Not on view
Ilias Kementzides
2001 March 1
