Voluntary Artists’ Studio, Thimphu, popularly known as VAST was set up in 1998 by a group of professional artists as a non profitable and non governmental organization (NGO). This informal organization was set up with the sole aim of providing an opportunity to the Bhutanese youth to participate and develop their potential talents as well as share social responsibilities through artistic explorations and other socially useful and productive work. Its primary objective is to provide potential vocational skills and alternative positive use of free time and facilitate participation in the national and international art realm.
VAST Mission
- To promote the importance and the value of visual art.
- To guide and assist young artists to explore their full potential.
- To nurture the creative talents of the Bhutanese youth.
- To provide potential vocational skill exploration through exposure and participation in art.
- To spread social awareness through art.To promote the importance of our rich culture and tradition through art. To provide an alternative positive use of free time in a productive manner.
- To facilitate participation in national, regional and international art realm.
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sir i like to know about the vast. more details please. am a university teacher. india visakhapatnam
iam a traveller also. i walked in india for 22000 thousands of kms and met many students of art . wrote books about travel and art .
prof adinarayana
You can contact us or reach us on facebook for further details, thank you
In 2004, I was in Thimphu and was very pleased to visit VAST. Later on, I purchased 6 water colours painted by the artist, Gyeltshen, at VAST’s art shop gallery near the Clock Tower. The water colours were of various Dzongs and chortens. The director of VAST was there and told me that he had painted with Gyeltshen, and that Gyeltshen was then living in the east of Bhutan.
Do you have any news of he artist Gyeltshen?
I was wondering if the article by Britt Jensen was written by a long lost friend of mine. If this Britt attended San Diego State College, could you pass on this email to him? He also knew my roomate at the time, Jan. We were all studying art.
Thank you ! Vicki Jones-Pittman ( Vicki Jones)
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[...] VAST was created to provide vocational skills to Bhutanese youth. This seemed important at a time when the number of graduates was surpassing the government’s capacity for employment. I wanted to help directly, but I didn’t feel confident enough to try teaching a writing class at the time. [...]