妻友社区

Ariana’s current research projects include:

• the roles of humor and play in traditional Buddhist art;
• tracing artists and patrons who contributed to Bhutanese art history using extant paintings, murals, and sculptures created in the 17th-19th centuries and their textual sources;
• interdisciplinary, collaborative, open-access digital humanities projects that document Asian material and visual culture and promote their greater understanding and use in the classroom;
• development of contemporary Bhutanese art; and,
• capacity-building programs for cultural heritage, fine arts, and museum professionals, particularly those based in the Himalaya

Books

• Forthcoming May 2025. , co-edited with Benjamin Bogin (Skidmore) and Rachel Seligman (Tang Teaching Museum)
• 2019.  , Volume 4: A Comprehensive Guide to the Sacred Places of Bhutan, Guide to Sacred Sites of Trongsa, Dagana, Tsirang and Sarpang Dzongkhags. English language edition editor. Thimphu, Bhutan: KMT Press
• 2018. Festivals of Bumthang. English language edition editor. Thimphu, Bhutan: National Library and Archives of Bhutan
• 2018. Seeds of Faith, Volume 3: A Comprehensive Guide to the Sacred Places of Bhutan, Guide to Sacred Sites of Bumthang. English language edition editor. Thimphu, Bhutan: KMT Press
• 2017. Between Us: Identity and Relationship in Contemporary Tibetan Art, co-authored with Janice Glowski. Frank Museum of Art, Otterbein University
• 2014. Artful Contemplation: Collections from the National Museum of Bhutan. Co-authored with Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi, Singye Samdrup. Paro: National Museum of Bhutan

Articles, Chapters, and Conference Proceedings

• Expected 2025. “Unusual Immortals: Distinctive Depictions of Arhats in the Mangalam Collection,” Volume title forthcoming, Berkeley, CA: Mangalam Press
• Expected June 2025. "Provenance and Caretaking of Tibetan Art in Museums" in Forms of Awakening
• 2023. “Buddha Shakyamuni Surrounded by Scenes from the Wish-Fulfilling Vine,” , Vassar College. Elizabeth Nogrady and Alyx Rax, Eds. Chicago: Hirmer Publishers/University of Chicago Press
• 2023. “Tamshing Temple: A Bhutanese Buddhist Master’s Treasure House” in , Rubin Museum of Art and online at
• 2023. “Maitreya Statue at Jampa Lhakhang, Bhutan: The Earliest Grand Buddhist Clay Sculpture in Bhutan and the Bhutanese Tradition of Clay Sculpting,” with Karma Phuntsho and Elena Pakhoutova in Himalayan Art in and online at
• 2023. exhibition booklet, with Tibetan translation by Rongwo Lugyal Dondrup, Williams College Museum of Art
• 2017. “.” Orientations 48/3 (May/June), 108-117
• 2017. “.” Mandala of 21st Century Perspectives: Proceedings of the International Conference on Tradition and Innovation in Vajrayana Buddhism. Thimphu: Centre for Bhutan Studies, 102-121
• 2011. “.” Journal of Bhutan Studies, Volume 25 (Winter), 1-49

• , a digital humanities project co-directed with Andrew Quintman (Wesleyan) and Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia)
• , a collaboration with the Loden Foundation (Thimphu, Bhutan) and the University of Virginia

• Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Bhutan, 2025
• NEH-Mellon Fellowship for Digital Publication, 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19; activities conducted 2022-23)
• Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Bhutan, 2019-20
• Outstanding Faculty Award, University of Virginia and Institute for Shipboard Education, 2015

• Secretary, Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2024-present
• Organizing Committee Member, Drukrig Network for Bhutan Researchers, 2020-present
• Executive Council, Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2019-present
• Editorial Advisory Board Member, International Journal of Bhutan & Himalaya Research, Royal University of Bhutan, 2019-present
• Editorial Committee Member, Treasury of Lives, 2019-present