Ariana Maki

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. Forms of Awakening: Tibetan Art from the Jack Shear Collection, co-edited with Benjamin Bogin (Skidmore) and Rachel Seligman (Tang Teaching Museum)
• 2019.  Seeds of Faith, 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,” Making & Meaning: The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 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 Himalayan Art in 108 Objects, Rubin Museum of Art and online at Project Himalayan Art
• 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 108 Objects, Rubin Museum of Art and online at Project Himalayan Art
• 2023. Across Shared Waters exhibition booklet, with Tibetan translation by Rongwo Lugyal Dondrup, Williams College Museum of Art
• 2017. “Tracing the Legacy of Tsang Khenchen Penden Gyatso (1610-84) in Bhutanese Art.” Orientations 48/3 (May/June), 108-117
• 2017. “Visual Transmission: Bhutanese Art and Artists in the 17th-19th Centuries.” 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. “A Zhabdrung Phunsum Tshogpa (zhabs drung phun sum tshogs pa) Thangka from the National Museum of Bhutan Collection.” Journal of Bhutan Studies, Volume 25 (Winter), 1-49

• Life of the Buddha, a digital humanities project co-directed with Andrew Quintman (Wesleyan) and Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia)
• Bhutan Cultural Library, 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