There is always something exciting happening in the Museum of International Folk Art!
July 2021 Newsletter
"Tutto il Mondo è Paese – The Whole World is Hometown" This Italian proverb was a guiding principle for Alexander and Susan Girard's collecting of folk art.
From the Director:
With Summer now in full swing, we hope to see you at MOIFA. Just opened, we have a new exhibition of folk art glass, on view in our downstairs gallery, Lloyd’s Treasure Chest. Did you know why we call that gallery Lloyd’s Treasure Chest? When the museum received the gift of more than 2,000 textiles from the Neutrogena Collection in the late 1990s, there was a stipulation laid down by Lloyd Cotsen, chair of the Neutrogena Corporation, that we had to exhibit a hefty percentage of the collection within just a few years. So our staff designed a new gallery with an open-storage concept, rotating objects frequently. We no longer have that rotating Neutrogena display, but there is still a view into collections storage from Lloyd's Treasure Chest.
We hope you will enjoy the glass exhibition, selected by our curators from all of MOIFA’s collecting areas. We also encourage you to see the glass exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, called Clearly Indigenous, and also the glass art display at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
The International Folk Art Market returns now in July, after a year break due to the pandemic. MOIFA has shown our best to support our partners at the Folk Art Market. Maybe we will see you there!
Akeem Ayanniyi is the ninth generation of his family to make and play the traditional Yoruba talking drum. Originally from the Western Nigerian town of Erin Osun, Akeem has been living and working in Santa Fe for 18 years, continuing his tradition of West African drums. 🥁
Learn more about Akeem by watching the full video on our YouTube channelHERE!
VIRTUAL TOURS
A FIVE-STOP VIRTUAL TOUR Enchanted with MOIFA’s Girard Wing with its 10,000 pieces of vibrantly colored and fantastically arranged folk art from dozens of countries? Can't wait to have a guided look? Here’s an opportunity —virtually— to tour Alexander Girard’s last massive art installation from the comfort of your home or hotel. Join us for a virtual tour on Tuesdays at 11am. The five “stop” tour lasts about 45 minutes. Register yourself now July 6, 2021 11:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada) July 13, 2021 11:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
EXHIBITIONS
Preparators Doug Jewell and Bryan Johnson-French installing a new section about Amabie in the exhibition, Yokai: Ghosts & Demons of Japan, on view through Fall 2022. Photo by Matt Celeskey.
Updates and Additions! If you have not been into the Yōkai exhibition lately, come check out recent updates and additions. While the Manga Lounge is temporarily closed due to pandemic precautions, we have added a section on Amabie, a prophetic yōkai that wards off epidemics. When the pandemic shutdowns began, yōkai artists and enthusiasts rediscovered Amabie and began sharing their creations on social media platforms.
The yōkai went viral! Search #amabie, especially on Twitter and Instagram, and you will see thousands of examples. Create your own Amabie and tag with us @internationalfolkartMOIFA and use hashtags: #amabie and #MOIFAyokai.
Other exhibition updates include rotations of artwork. You will find new scenes on view from the Shutendōji scroll and the Hundred Demon Night Parade scroll, and there is a new ghost painting rotated into the ghost section; these items are on loan from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Manga fans and those interested in popular picture books from the Edo period will especially enjoy seeing new monsters highlighted in the yōkai encyclopedias by Toriyama Sekien (1776), on loan from the Freer|Sackler Gallery of Asian Art (Smithsonian).The exhibition has been extended and will now be on view through Fall 2022. Stay tuned for more adaptations and revisions throughout the run of the show!
From small beads and mirrors to sculpted works, people work with glass all over the world. The Museum of International Folk Art presents a selection of glass works and works with glass from the collection. The display will be on view in Lloyd’s Treasure Chest this summer.
Image caption: Olive oil storage jar by Tawfiq Natsheh. 2010. Hebron, West Bank, Palestine. Dimensions: 11 5/16 x 6 1/8 in. IFAF Collection (FA.2010.36.2ab).
HANDS-ON STUDIO
MIAC & MOIFA Educators. Photo courtesy of MOIFA. Arts Alive! 2021 Started in 2006 as a free summer drop-in hands-on art making program for ages 3-103 on Museum Hill with the Museum of International Folk Art, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art offering all ages unique exhibition- and collection-inspired workshops. Years later, the Santa Fe Botanical Garden joined the collaboration up until 2020, when the distribution of activity art kits assembled by MOIFA replaced the hands-on, in-person experience. Despite reopening and easing of COVID-19 restrictions, this year Arts Alive! is continuing to be art kit-driven, with one of our original partners, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture re-joining us to create their own unique art kits for on-site pick-up.
Arts Alive! June, 2021 Orihon accordion-style books.
Photo courtesy of MOIFA.
In addition to distributing free art kits on a first-come, first-served basis, we have expanded Arts Alive! to include direct outreach to: the Southside Library, Vital Spaces, Santa Fe Public Libraries, Tribal Libraries around the state and the Kha’p’o Community School in Santa Clara Pueblo.
We hope to see you on Museum Hill!!
Museum of International Folk Art
Tuesday, July 20 & July 22, 2021, 10:00am - 2:00pm ~ Tree of Life Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 10:00am - 2:00pm ~ Faux Stained Glass Museum of International Folk Art
Monday, August 2, 2021, 10:00am - 2:00pm ~ Ofrendas: Altar Vision 2020
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
Tuesday, August 3, 2021, 10:00am - 2:00pm ~ Cardboard Weaving
