MOIFA | |
 Museum of International Folk Art | |
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| Established | 1953 |
|---|---|
| Location | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Type | Folk art |
| Collection size | >135,000 artifacts |
| Director | Charlie Lockwood |
| Public transit access | Santa Fe Trails (bus) |
| Website | www |
The Museum of International Folk Art is a state-run institution in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. It is one of many cultural institutions operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. [1]
The museum was founded by Florence Dibell Bartlett and opened to the public in 1953 and has gained national and international recognition as the home to the world’s largest collection of international folk art. The collection of more than 135,000 artifacts forms the basis for exhibitions in four distinct wings: Bartlett, Girard, Hispanic Heritage, and Neutrogena. [2] The original building, a gift to the state from Bartlett, was designed by famed New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem. [3]
The Girard Wing, with its popular exhibition, Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, showcases folk art, popular art, toys and textiles from more than 100 nations. The exhibition is unique in that it was designed by the donor, Alexander Girard, a leading architect and designer. The collection includes toys and dolls, costumes, masks, textiles of all kinds, religious folk art, paintings, beadwork, and more. More than a million visitors have passed through the doors into the special world of Girard since the exhibition opened in 1982. Popular with children and the young at heart, the exhibit attracts visitors back into the museum to find an old favorite, or discover a new treasure in the gallery. Multiple Visions: A Common Bond displays approximately 10% of the collection, the exhibit and collection serve as an inspiration and resource for scholars, artists and educators from around the world, from preschool to college level.
The Museum’s Neutrogena Collection — donated by former Neutrogena CEO Lloyd Cotsen in 1995 — comprises more than 2,500 textiles, ceramics and carvings from all over the world. The Hispanic Heritage Wing opened in 1988 and, at that time, was the only designated space for Spanish/Hispanic art in the state. This wing underwent renovation and reopened in the fall of 2009, continuing its spotlight on Hispanic folk art from New Mexico and beyond.
The Bartlett Wing, named in honor of museum founder Florence Dibell Bartlett, offers rotating exhibitions based on the museum collections and on field studies of specific cultures or art forms. Exhibition in this wing have ranged from Turkish, Tibetan and Swedish traditions to New Deal era art in New Mexico, recycled objects, mayólica, ¡CARNAVAL! and Dancing Shadows, Epic Tales: Wayang Kulit of Indonesia and Macedonian Embroidered Dress The museum is on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, and is home to the International Folk Art Market| Santa Fe every July. The Museum of International Folk Art shares Milner Plaza with another state-run institution, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology. Adjacent to both of these are the private Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and Museum of Spanish Colonial Art and the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. [4]
35°39′51″N105°55′34″W / 35.66406°N 105.92618°W
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Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically trained within a popular tradition, rather than in the fine art tradition of the culture. There is often overlap, or contested ground with 'naive art'. "Folk art" is not used in regard to traditional societies where ethnographic art continue to be made.
The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and California plein-air painting. The Bowers organizes and hosts special exhibitions from institutions throughout the world, and travels exhibitions nationally and internationally. The museum has a second campus two blocks south of the main site, Kidseum, a children's museum with a focus on art and archaeology. The Bowers Museum and Kidseum are located in Santa Ana 6.4 km south of Disneyland.
Alexander Girard, affectionately known as Sandro, was an architect, interior designer, furniture designer, industrial designer, and a textile designer.
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Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. With a population of 87,505 at the 2020 census, it is the fourth-most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Santa Fe County. Its metropolitan area is part of the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Los Alamos combined statistical area, which had a population of 1,162,523 in 2020. Human settlement dates back thousands of years in the region. The city was founded in 1610 as the capital of Nuevo México, replacing previous capitals at San Juan de los Caballeros and San Gabriel de Yunque; this makes it the oldest state capital in the United States.
The Mingei International Museum is a non-profit public institution that collects, conserves and exhibits folk art, craft and design. The museum was founded in 1974, and its building opened in 1978. The word mingei, meaning 'art of the people,' was coined by the Japanese scholar Dr. Sōetsu Yanagi by combining the Japanese words for all people and art.
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Polly Barton is an American textile artist.
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