The People Behind the Work

Our Artists

Vermillion Arts is built around six extraordinary practitioners — each a guardian of a living tradition and a dedicated teacher sharing their knowledge with the next generation.

Thangka Painting

Tenzin Norbu

Lhasa, Tibet (born 1962) · Founding Director & Senior Artist

Born into an artistic family in Lhasa, Tenzin Norbu trained from the age of nine under his uncle, the revered monk-painter Ngawang Dorje of his uncle's monastery. After arriving in Dharamsala in 1987, he spent a decade in contemplative study before co-founding Vermillion Arts in 2008. His thangkas in the Karma Gadri style have been exhibited in twelve countries and form part of permanent collections in international museum collections and cultural heritage foundations.

Karma Gadri lineage35+ years practiceThangka & gold workInternational exhibitions

Thangka Painting

Dechen Wangmo

Rebkong, Amdo (born 1978) · Senior Artist

Dechen Wangmo is one of the very few women to hold full accreditation in the Rebkong thangka tradition — an art form historically practiced almost exclusively by men in Qinghai province. She trained under Master Tsering Norbu in Repkong for six years before moving to Dharamsala. Dechen is celebrated for her chromatic boldness and her complex mandala compositions, several of which have been commissioned by monasteries in France and the United States.

Rebkong schoolMandala specialistComplex deity compositionsCommissioned for monasteries

Buddhist Sculpture

Sonam Rinchen

Kathmandu, Nepal (born 1971) · Head of Sculpture

A master of the Newar tradition of lost-wax bronze casting, Sonam Rinchen apprenticed under the Shakya clan of Patan, Nepal — the community that has sustained this art form for over a millennium. He joined Vermillion Arts in 2010 and has since trained over sixty students in the full casting process. His sculptures range from intimate palm-sized devotional pieces to monumental works exceeding one metre, including a commissioned Maitreya for a monastery in Bordeaux.

Newar bronze traditionLost-wax castingIconometric precisionMonumental commissions

Tibetan Calligraphy

Rigzin Choedon

Darjeeling (born 1985) · Calligraphy & Paper Arts

Rigzin Choedon began learning calligraphy at the Tibetan Children's Village school in Dharamsala and continued her studies under the late calligrapher Rinchen Tsewang in Darjeeling. She holds a master's degree in Tibetan literature from Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu. At Vermillion Arts she teaches both the formal Uchen block script and the flowing Umé cursive style, as well as courses in the preparation of traditional lokta paper and handmade ink.

Uchen & Umé scriptsHandmade paperTibetan literatureSacred texts

Textile Arts

Pema Dolkar

Shigatse, Tibet (born 1967) · Head of Textile Arts

Pema Dolkar is the acknowledged authority on Tibetan textile traditions within the Dharamsala exile community. Born in Shigatse to a family of weavers, she carries techniques learned from her mother and grandmother — women who had practiced continuously in Tibet before the upheaval of the 1950s. Pema is especially renowned for her appliqué thangkas, which take months of painstaking silk cutting and layering. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at leading international textile museums and the Himalayan Art Foundation.

Appliqué thangkaTraditional weavingNatural dyeingSilk & brocade

Art History

Dr. Karma Phuntsok

Dharamsala (born 1969) · Scholar in Residence

Dr. Karma Phuntsok holds a doctorate in Tibetan art history from a leading European university, where he wrote his dissertation on regional variations in early Guge-period painting. He serves as a senior researcher at the Central Tibetan Archives and lectures internationally on Himalayan iconography. At Vermillion Arts he teaches the popular Thursday evening course in Tibetan art history and iconography, and is available to consult on attribution and dating questions for collectors and curators.

European university doctorateCentral Archives researcherIconographic attributionRegional style analysis

Open Call

Artist Residency Programme

Each spring and autumn, Vermillion Arts invites two international artists for an eight-week residency. Residents work alongside our master artists, contribute to the public programme, and gain unparalleled access to living Tibetan art traditions.

Apply for a Residency