Started in 2004, the annual International Folk Art Market| Santa Fe is held during one weekend of July on Milner Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. [1] The Folk Art Market is one of three summer markets in Santa Fe; Santa Fe also hosts the Spanish Market and the Indian Market. [2]
The Market was founded by businesswoman Judith Espinar, together with Thomas Aageson, executive director of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and former executive director of Aid to Artisans; the former Market executive director, Charlene Cerny, formerly director of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, and Charmay Allred, a community philanthropist. The State of New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the Museum of New Mexico Foundation are the primary strategic partners. [3] In its inaugural year, the market hosted sixty participating folk artists. By 2008, the number of artists grew to 125 artists from 41 different countries and in 2009, 126 artists from 46 nations. [4] [5]
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) was an early sponsor, providing funding for ten artists, followed by an artist-training program in 22 countries. UNESCO has given its Award of Excellence to several products beginning in 2007. In 2009, three booths featured UNESCO award-winning work. [6] In 2008, 97% of the market artists were from developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
The Market supported an initiative to train cultural entrepreneurs in Africa through the W.K. Kellogg Intern Program. The program funded four arts professionals from Africa, to prepare the interns to develop folk art markets in their home countries. In 2008, the arts professionals in this program were: Mahaliah Kowa, former Project Coordinator of the Harambe Afrika! Festival in Johannesburg; Chila Smith Lino, Marketing Director of the non-profit Nacional de Artesanato in Mozambique; Nomvula Moshoai-Cook, Chairperson for the Mpumulanga Traditional Arts Festival in South Africa; and Jane Parsons, Crafts Consultant for the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe. [7]
Former President Bill Clinton had commissioned three market artists to create prizes that were presented in September 2009 to the winners of the Clinton Global Citizen Awards — which honored individuals and organizations for their philanthropic contributions to global welfare. The work of the three artists, Serge Jolimeau and Michee Remy of Haiti and Toyin Folorunso of Nigeria, represented recycled metals. [8]
In July 2012, the ninth year of the Market, 156 artists participated from 54 different countries across 6 continents; 4 new countries were represented including Colombia, Hungary, South Sudan, South Korea, and Vanuatu. 58 artists were from cooperatives and NGOs that represent approximately 36,059 artisans — positively impacting the lives of over 360,000 extended family members. 19,536 people attended. Artists’ sales increased by 7% from the 2011 Market to $2.4 million in 2012. The average sales per booth amounted to $18,253. Artists retain 90% of their sales.
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.
An arts town is a settlement that is dedicated to and recognized as having art as a central feature to its cultural identity. Arts towns generate a good portion of their economy, their existence, and their tourism from establishing a culture of the arts. By definition, a disproportionately large number of the citizens in these towns are involved in the arts.
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.
Maria Margarita "Margaret" Tafoya was the matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo potters. She was a recipient of a 1984 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) organizes the market, showcasing work from 1,200 of the top Native American artists from tribes across the country.
SITE Santa Fe is a nonprofit contemporary arts organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since its founding in 1995, SITE Santa Fe has presented 11 biennials, more than 90 contemporary art exhibitions, and works by more than 800 artists. Following its presentation of the first international biennial of contemporary art in the U.S., SITE expanded its programming to include ongoing exhibitions of notable artists in solo and group shows, often including new commissions and U.S. debuts. While SITE presents artists from all over the world, it has also provided support and career development opportunities for local New Mexico talent. Approximately 20% of the exhibited artists are based in New Mexico.
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the fourth-most populous city in the state, and part of the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Los Alamos combined statistical area, which had a population of 1,162,523 in 2020. Situated at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the city is at the highest altitude of any U.S. state capital, with an elevation of 7,199 feet.
The School for Advanced Research (SAR), until 2007 known as the School of American Research and founded in 1907 as the School for American Archaeology (SAA), is an advanced research center located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S. Since 1967, the scope of the school's activities has embraced a global perspective through programs to encourage advanced scholarship in anthropology and related social science disciplines and the humanities, and to facilitate the work of Native American scholars and artists. SAR offers residential fellowships for artists and scholars, and it publishes academic and popular non-fiction books through SAR Press.
Teri Greeves is a Native American beadwork artist, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is enrolled in the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.
Vanessa Paukeigope Santos Jennings is a Kiowa/Kiowa Apache/Gila River Pima regalia maker, clothing designer, cradleboard maker, and beadwork artist from Oklahoma.
Valerie Martínez is an American poet, writer, educator, arts administrator, consultant, and collaborative artist. She served as the poet laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico from 2008 to 2010.
Ryan Singer is a Navajo contemporary painter living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is of the Tódich'íinii clan, born for Kinyaa'áani. Singer is known for his vibrant Pop Art-inspired takes on Native American and mainstream culture.
As far back as I can remember I have always loved art—drawing, painting, making music. What I like most about it is the freedom to create something—anything—from nothing. – Ryan Singer, 2009
The Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca or MEAPO is a small museum in the municipality of San Bartolo Coyotepec just south of the city of Oaxaca in Mexico. It is run by the state of Oaxaca to showcase the entity's handcrafts and folk art tradition, through its permanent collection, online "cyber-museum", collaboration with national and international entities, and sponsorship of events such as craft markets, conferences, and temporary exhibitions. It is dedicated to the crafts and to the artisans and the cultures behind the items. Its collection contains samples of most of the crafts produced in the state, especially the Central Valleys region, but most of its collection consists of barro negro pottery, the specialty of San Bartolo Coyotepec. It is run by director Carlomagno Pedro Martínez, a recognized artisan and artist in barro negro.
Jacobo de la Serna is a ceramic artist, Spanish Colonial scholar and painter. His work is exhibited in permanent collections around the United States.
Epifania "Eppie" Archuleta was an American weaver and textile artisan at the annual Spanish Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. While the more traditional Chimayo and Rio Grande tapestries used diamonds and stripes in their designs. Archuleta specialized in more contemporary woven designs. Archuleta was a recipient of a 1985 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.
Serge Jolimeau is a Haitian metal sculptor born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti in 1952. Renowned artists such as Georges Liautaud, Murat Brierre, the Louis-Juste brothers, and Gabriel Bien-Aimé were also from this same village.
Ramona Sakiestewa is a contemporary Hopi Native American artist who lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sakiestewa is renowned for her tapestries, works on paper, public art, and architectural installations.
Eliseo Rodriguez (1915–2009) was a New Mexico artist known for his straw appliqué and oil paintings.
Christine McHorse, also known as Christine Nofchissey McHorse, was a Navajo ceramic artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Jackie Larson Bread is a Native American beadwork artist from the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana. Her interest in bead work was sparked from looking at her late-grandmother's beaded pieces. In awe of these objects, Bread self-taught herself how to bead when she was younger and now, she has been beading for more than 20 years. Continuing through trial and error, Bread has received numerous awards for her beading.
Official website - [1]