By Jennifer Gampbell, Time Magazine, Asia / Pacific Travel Watch, June 11 2001

 

Meditation retreats & fasting are labor-intensive routes to spiritual enlightenment. For those who can't imagine devoting an entire vacation to the quest for inner wisdom, a short & halcyon experience awaits at Thailand's Dhamma Park Gallery & Heritage Gardens. Set in a peaceful orchard some 40km south of Chiang Mai near the agricultural hamlet of Pasang, this little cultural oasis was created by English sculptor Venetia Walkey & husband Inson Wongsam, an acclaimed Thai sculptor who works in metal & wood.

 

The 1.5-hectare former banana plantation is divided into two distinct sections. The Gallery, a stark white building encircled by a frangipani-fringed canal, houses Walkey's main work The Twelve Links & some of her signature small bronzes of monks. A devout Buddhist, Walkey has molded the concept of the 12 dependent origins of suffering into innovative, artistic forms. The exhibition's highlight is an enormous floor-to-ceiling corkscrew structure called The Fountain of Ignorance (with a working waterspout). Cross the arched Bridge to the Noble Eightfold Path for Right Living & you enter Inson's more verdant domain: trees, orchids, rustic wooden Thai-style cottages & a gallery filled with his distinctive, fluid pieces. He carves enormous decorative wall panels, doors & banisters, along with smaller items.

 

Available for workshops, retreats, social events or any function that meets the owners' criteria of "nourishing body, mind & speech," Dhamma Park is an inspiring venue, if only for a picnic.