The Black Hat Dance at Paro Tsechu
Limited Edition Prints of Joe Rohde Paintings from Bhutan:
A Fundraiser for the Community Arts Workshop
Sale Opens 8 AM PST, September 8 - October 5, 2023
Imagineer Joe Rohde has created this fundraiser for the Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop, an effort of the non-profit Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative. All proceeds from the sales will go to the building and sustaining of the Community Arts Workshop. A note from Joe:
For much of my career I’ve used art to foster awareness and inspire action. My paintings have mostly been used to raise money for wildlife conservation. But in this case, the cause is closer to home, the Community Arts Workshop here in Santa Barbara.
On any given day you’ll find a group art show on the walls, kids dangling from the ceiling in an aerial dance class, and the once-garages-now-workshops buzzing with artists creating handmade giant floats for one of Santa Barbara’s signature events, the Solstice Parade. It is more than a place. It’s a kind of perpetual event.
CAW's focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration, space for innovation, and community engagement is vital. I know this firsthand as I’ve been welcomed here as a relative newcomer and been able to benefit from CAW both as an artist and as a citizen. Though facilities are not quite finished, CAW exists today because people who had a vision invested their time, their energy, and their creativity. But there’s more to be done and that’s why, as a grateful new member of this community, I wanted to contribute these prints to help fundraising efforts.
- Joe Rohde
The Black Hat Dance at Paro Tsechu
These images were painted after a research trip to Bhutan in 1994. At the time I was developing concepts for Disneys Animal Kingdom theme park, and the rich culture of Bhutan, especially its ritual and ceremonial aspects, was relevant to our project. We attended the Paro Tsechu, a huge multi-day ceremony that featured dozens of lavish costumed ritual dances. These images were from The Black Hat Dance. This particular version of the dance involves dancers who begin by all beating ceremonial drums in a slow trancelike pattern, then suddenly burst forth into highly energetic leaping and spinning. It is a ritual meant to invoke spiritual power wielded against negative forces. The patterns of color against the white walls of the immense monastery beyond them made a strong impact on me. I did some sketches at the time then returned home to paint these images. The originals still hang in my house, arranged side by side as if dancing together, a memory of a time and place now decades past.
TWIRLING FROM ABOVE
Print information:
Prints are 16"x20" including white border. Image itself is 17"L x 12.75"H.
Paper: EPSON Hot Press Natural
Signature Worthy Professional
100% Cotton Fiber Base
330 GSM 17mil
Printer: Chris Owen, PORCHLIGHT STUDIOS
Santa Barbara, CA August 2023
EPSON Printer
Edition of 75, signed and numbered by Joe Rohde
$125/print, includes shipping inside continental U.S.
LEAPING
Print information:
Prints are 16"x20" including white border. Image itself is 17"L x 12.75"H.
Paper: EPSON Hot Press Natural
Signature Worthy Professional
100% Cotton Fiber Base
330 GSM 17mil
Printer: Chris Owen, PORCHLIGHT STUDIOS
Santa Barbara, CA August 2023
EPSON Printer
Edition of 75, signed and numbered by Joe Rohde
$125/print, includes shipping inside continental U.S.
THE DRUMMER
Print information:
Prints are 16"x20" including white border. Image itself is 17"L x 12.75"H.
Paper: EPSON Hot Press Natural
Signature Worthy Professional
100% Cotton Fiber Base
330 GSM 17mil
Printer: Chris Owen, PORCHLIGHT STUDIOS
Santa Barbara, CA August 2023
EPSON Printer
Edition of 75, signed and numbered by Joe Rohde
$125/print, includes shipping inside continental U.S.
TWIRLING PERSPECTIVE
Print information:
Prints are 16"x20" including white border. Image itself is 17"L x 12.75"H.
Paper: EPSON Hot Press Natural
Signature Worthy Professional
100% Cotton Fiber Base
330 GSM 17mil
Printer: Chris Owen, PORCHLIGHT STUDIOS
Santa Barbara, CA August 2023
EPSON Printer
Edition of 75, signed and numbered by Joe Rohde
$125/print, includes shipping inside continental U.S.
JOE ROHDE recently retired from a 40 year career with Walt Disney Imagineering. During that time he was a pivotal figure in the development of a series of projects that dealt with natural history, culture, and the environment. His work includes Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Aulani: A Disney Resort and Spa in Hawaii, Villages Nature, an eco-resort adjacent to Disneyland Paris as well as many other projects. He was instrumental in the creation of the Disney Conservation Fund, which has raised over $100 million for missions worldwide. He currently consults for select projects through his company, Joe Rohde Creative, LLC. Virgin Galactic has engaged him as Chief Experience Architect in the development of their space tourism business. Joe regularly lectures on design, art history, and conservation and has spoken at TED, NASA, SIGGRAPH, the Getty Center, and many other venues.
Joe is a member of the Explorer’s Club and has traveled extensively in some of the most remote regions of the world, often creating art along the way. His paintings, created under challenging field conditions, are a record of settings, cultures, and events few may ever see. Joe regularly uses his artwork for various causes as a fundraising and awareness raising tool. He has recently joined the CAW community and offers these prints from his Himalayan expeditions in support of their goals.
Special thanks to
For their generous support in creating prints for this project.
