The Dream of the Turquoise Bee
Botanical Art as a Vehicle for Cultural Diplomacy
Dianne Aigaki
Travel with Dianne on her journeys to Tibet where she is completing a series of 108 scientific botanical paintings of wildflowers growing between 11,000-18,000 feet elevation. Yak herding, global warming, monks imprisoned for seven years for writing Free Tibet on a sign, searching for the Tibetan blue poppy at 16,000 feet altitude, delivering gifts from the Dalai Lama to his homeland—it’s all part of this presentation.
Dianne Aigaki is an artist, grant writer and advocate for the Tibetan culture in exile. She has painted flowers in the Dalai Lama’s private garden. She has lived in Dharamsala, IndiaTibet in 2006. for 11 years, working as a volunteer for various non-profit organizations and Tibetan exile government departments, training individuals and groups to write solid plans and fund-raising proposals and helping to develop adult education and community garden projects. She is a member of the Society of Women Geographers (the premier group of women explorers in the world) and WINGS WorldQuest (an international organization of women explorers) and carried the WINGS flag into Tibet in 2006.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Denver Botanic Gardens –
6:30 – 8 p.m.