About Borderline

Please join us for a special anniversary party!

For the past 7 years, Borderline has proudly provided a hospitable space to purchase fair-trade handicrafts from migrant Burmese women. The shop and art gallery together benefit many talented artists and artisans living along the border, giving them the means to independently earn an income. The ability to share our Burmese culture through traditional foods has made the success of Borderline’s tea shop over the years extremely gratifying as well.

We welcome all of our friends and supporters to celebrate with us on Friday, July 15th. We will present a special performance by BABYMIME from Bangkok and Dandelion from Taiwan, TNNUA (Tainan National University of Arts). Works from all Borderline artists will be on display in the gallery.

Borderline is hoping to put on an exhibition of our member artists later this year in Chiang Mai. We are approaching several galleries with our proposal, but we know for certain that we need funding for space rental, refreshments, reframing costs, and transportation costs. We expect to need at least 15,000 baht to physically bring the work to Chiang Mai and to put on the show.

Sales of artworks at the upcoming 7th anniversary exhibition will contribute to the total needed. Our artists have agreed to donate one piece each to the fund, so please visit Borderline Gallery from July 15th until the end of the month to view the eligible pieces. Thank you for your support!

Delicious complimentary refreshments will be provided by the tea shop as always!

The start of the Rainy season is an excellent background for “Blooming in Rain”, an exhibition by two long time Borderline Gallery Collective members, Saw Poe Dah and Kyaw Kyaw Hein.

In the past Saw Poe Dah has impressed us with his powerful water colours depicting everyday life from his homeland Burma. For this exhibition he has come up with more than 10 new water colours showing farmer’s life, domestic situations and life in the rain.
For the first time Saw Poe Dah will show 4 big canvas pieces. After many years concentrating solely on water colours, he is now using the media of oil to express his art.

Kyaw Kyaw Hein is also a regular in our shows. Life in the paintings of Kyaw Kyaw Hein is going on a very relaxing pace. Watch a fisherman throwing his net in the water and you can hear the net softly touching the water, see the young monks sitting on the wall, and you might want to join them.

The opening of “Blooming in Rain” is this Thursday, June 2. From 6 pm until 9 pm you can enjoy the art work, meet and talk with the artists, eat and drink snacks provided by Borderline Teagarden and connect with old friends.

We hope to see you on Thursday,
BORDERLINE GALLERY

On Thursday, 5th May 2011, Borderline Gallery will open the newest art exhibition “Growing Naturally”. In this exhibition, Borderline Gallery is going to present the artworks of two Burmese artists, La Sam and A-Hein Kyaw.
Artist Lasam is a young Kachin man who is very talented at using the charcoal medium. This time he is showing the nature of Burmese people by using his art skill and charcoal medium.
A-Hein Kyaw is an experience and talented artist, he is showing many different points of Burmese people’s lively hood by using different mediums such as water color, pastle, acrylic and oil.
In this exhibition we as the viewer are going to see many interesting and beautiful landscapes of Burma and portraits of Burmese people, using a variety of mediums.
Our artist are always eager to improve, and invite you to openly share suggestions and critiques of their new work. The exhibition will open on Thursday 5th May 2011 from 6pm – 9pm, and continues until 18th May 2011.

Complimentary Burmese refreshments will be provided from Borderline Tea Shop.

The hot, post-Songkran season is perfect for booking a class! The tea shop staff will be a bit more free this time of year to accept class requests nearly any day of the month–other than gallery exhibition days, when they’re busy preparing delicious treats for the receptions. We’d love to teach you how to make tasty dishes from the Borderline menu, as well as special non-menu items like Karen pumpkin curry, coconut-banana wraps, or potato dumplings stuffed with tofu.

Proceeds from the classes support Borderline’s work with women artisans, including micro-loans, internship programs, and upkeep of the marketplace itself.

We don’t have regularly-scheduled classes, just let us know when you’re ready! Classes include an informative visit to the market to buy fresh ingredients for the dishes you’ve chosen to make, a stop at the Burmese tea shop for refreshments, and a copy of the Borderline cookbook to take home. Prices are 450B per person for a group of 3-6, 600B per person for 2 people, or 1000B to take the class alone.

Stop in Tuesday through Sunday to sign up, or send us an email at borderlineshop@yahoo.com.

Check out our additional photos of the classes on Facebook and don’t forget to like our page!

We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who came to the fundraiser on Saturday for the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami victims. The program included information about the current situation on the ground, video presentations, and several organizations based in Mae Sot singing songs of encouragement to the Japanese people. We concluded the event with a march down Intharakeeree Road to the Saturday night Walking Street market, during which many people we encountered donated generously to the cause. Thanks to all the kind people of Mae Sot, the event raised 25,200 baht for disaster relief.

The funds will be distributed by Shanti Volunteer Association’s (SVA) Tokyo headquarters. If you were unable to make the event but would still like to contribute, please contact SVA’s Mae Sot office:

Shanti Volunteer Association
Mae Sot Office
810/3 Intarakhiree Rd.,
Mae Sot, Tak 63110
svamst@cscoms.com

We have a few more photos on our Facebook page. And while you’re there, click “like” on Borderline Collective!

MY STORY photo project: 6 years and counting…
The MY STORY photo project is proud to present its sixth annual exhibition at Borderline Gallery, Mae Sot, from March 31st to April 30th.

Participants are given digital cameras, training in basic photo techniques, and photo assignments. Then they take pictures; lots and lots of pictures. At each training session, the photos are downloaded and critiqued by the group. They have edited their work so that each student is represented by two images in the exhibition. .

Photos are the result of five different workshops in 2011, three conducted by new teachers. Two-week workshops were run by Saw EhShoe at Kwe Ka Baung National Karen School; by Yawla, at Boarding School for Orphans and Helpless Youth; and by Der Lweh Htoo of the Karen Youth Organization, who ran a workshop at an IDP camp inside the border.

Nat and Susan took the project to Ban Ruam Juai, a hill tribe orphanage just outside Chiang Mai run by the indefatigable Seweega. They also worked with a group from the Karen Baptist Convention in Chaung Tha, Burma.

Income from print sales is split 50/50 between the photographer and MSppa. The funds are used to purchase cameras for next year’s project.

Please join us at Borderline Gallery for the opening reception on Thursday, March 31st, 6 – 9 pm. The gallery is located at 674/14 Intharakeree Road , Mae Sot.

As usual, complimentary Burmese refreshments will be provided by the Borderline Tea Shop.