A stroke has – just temporarily it’s to be hoped – robbed National Artist Chakrabhand Posyakrit of the use of his right hand – the hand that chiefly created all those paintings, puppets, books and essays. But, turning 73 today, he’s utterly undeterred.

In hospital earlier this year he found a way to blow a spray of watercolour paint from his mouth to make art – a pair of pieces titled “Lion” and “Gibbon”. And, while daily physical therapy continues, he’s regularly consulted about a museum of his own being built in Bangkok’s Sai Mai district.

Nation Group reporters were invited to his home-studio on Soi Ekkamai last week for an exclusive interview, his first since returning to the art scene after nearly a year’s absence.

“I’m not healthy,” he acknowledged immediately, sitting in a wheelchair. “I’m weak,” he said, then broke into a grin. “I’m too lazy to paint.”

Chakrabhand relied on Vallabhis Sodprasert, deputy director of the Chakrabhand Foundation, to explain some of the details about his health, the museum plans and other upcoming projects.

“In fact we were planning an exhibition of his paintings and drawings for his birthday, right here in this house, but when he fell ill that was put on hold,” Vallabhis said. The show will instead take place around the end of the year.

Chakrabhand’s 500-square-wah home has in the past been more like an art academy, with dozens of students trooping through every day. Some of them are now respected artists in their own right.

With the ajarn – their respected teacher – they’d work on sketches for murals at Wat Tri Tosathep in Bangkok and Wat Khao Sukim in Chantaburi, or design ornate puppet costumes and massive stage props. One was a gigantic sculpture of Hanuman, another a trio of elephants.

On weekends the house would become a puppet theatre, people welcomed in to watch Chakrabhand and his troupe put on a show, with a phipat orchestra clattering away in the background.

The place isn’t quite as lively now, although the students still come by to work on projects. The puppet troupe is on hiatus for the time being.

“He was admitted to the hospital just a few days before they were going to stage a new episode of ‘Taleng Phai’ last November,” said Vallabhis, whose primary function now is helping Chakrabhand in his recovery.

What’s mainly occupying them both in spirit, however, is building the country’s first dedicated puppet museum, part of a grand Bt120-million gallery-studio already under construction in Sai Mai.

The idea arose in 2008 while the artist was battling a developer who wanted to erect a high-rise condominium right next to his home. His friends and the media were on his side, not wanting to see a genuine Thai treasure house threatened. The developer backed off, for now, and the artist’s house became headquarters for the non-profit Chakrabhand Foundation, protecting his paintings and trying to preserve the puppeteer’s arts.

When Chakrabhand first settled on Soi Ekkamai (Sukhumvit Soi 63) more than 50 years ago it was still a quiet residential area, a far cry from the roaring commercial and corporate zone it is today. The menace of a high-rise going up next door worried him because of the fragility of his collection – some of the 200 puppets he keeps are more than a century old. He realised he’d eventually have to find somewhere else to store and display his hoard.

“The two-storey museum with a high ceiling above the ground floor will be the new home for Ajarn Chakrabhand’s masterpieces and include a 300-seat puppet theatre,” says architect Chirakorn Prasongkit, herself a major fan of the artist’s work.

Chirakorn, together with puppet-theatre expert Somchai Chitkongkan, has designed something of Chakra- bhand’s home into the 5,000-square-metre museum building, which he says will be energy-efficient and easy to maintain. As in a traditional Thai house, the high-ceilinged ground floor will serve multiple uses, and feature a 1,500-square-metre open-air hall suitable for parties and seminars.

Upstairs will be the theatre, under another lofty roof, with enough room to handle large productions of up to 100 performers and crew. The museum area itself, 780 square metres, will have a gift shop and small caf้ and be surrounded by a mezzanine hung with the paintings and sketches.

Display cases will hold puppets and something else that always amazes viewers – tiny, fragile dolls made from nutshells. “The exhibition space will have light dimmers and humidity controls,” says Chirakorn.

There will be three main exhibition rooms. The first, with 250 square metres, will hold the paintings, drawings, mural sketches and portraits of the royal family and other prominent clients and the artist’s friends and characters from Thai literature.

The puppets, stage sets and props will be in a second, 300-square-metre room, alongside a 125-square-metre studio that will “imitate” his studio in Ekkamai, a “living museum” where visitors will occasionally get to see Chakrabhand at work.

“He requested the soft, natural light as if falling on the North Pole, so there are no shadows,” the architect says.

Exterior construction is nearly finished, at a cost of Bt50 million. The land cost another Bt30 million. The second phase will involve the interior design and climate control.

“We don’t know yet when will the museum will be finished, but we’re currently raising the money to complete it,” said Vallabhis.

“Ajarn Chakrabhand’s aim is to preserve this collection as a national treasure, so this museum belongs not just to him but everyone,” Chirakorn adds.

NATIONAL TREASURES

– Everyone’s invited to help Chakrabhand’s friends and students celebrate his birthday a little late, on August 28, beginning with a merit-making ceremony at 8am with monks from Wat Khao Sukim.

– Part of the proceeds from the sale of his works will go to the museum fund.

– The Chakrabhand Foundation is at 49 Soi Ekkamai opposite the Lotus maket and open daily from 10am to 6pm.

– Find out more at (02) 392 7754.