For centuries, Tibetan Buddhists have engaged with artworks as objects of veneration, guides for meditation, and tools for teaching. The awakened mind of the Buddha is embodied in the forms of Tibetan Buddhist visual culture. Jack Shear is a photographer and president of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation. He has bestowed more than 60 works of Tibetan art from his collection across three museums: the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, the Frances Lehman Loeb Center at Vassar College and the Williams College Museum of Art. These include traditional thangka, as well as other Buddhist devotional objects. The collection and the corresponding exhibitions thus draw a connection between past and present: between concepts of awakening within the body, the built environment and the landscape.

With a rich green clothbound cover and stunning endpapers drawn from the artworks inside, Forms of Awakening is three books in one: a full catalog of the Jack Shear gift of Tibetan art; a scholarly volume of essays exploring the rich possibilities of engagement with Tibetan visual culture, both within and beyond the classroom; and documentation of the three exhibitions celebrating this exceptional gift.