Gee's Bend Quilts and Beyond:

Gee's Bend Quilts and Beyond:

Louisiana Bendolph, Mary Lee Bendolph, Thornton Dial, and Lonnie Holley
November 15, 2006 - May 11, 2007

Gee’s Bend Quilts and Beyond took an in-depth look at the creative vision of a master quilt-maker, and  Mary Lee Bendolph, and the intersecting artistic worlds in which she participated. The traveling exhibition opened November 15, 2006 and closed May 11, 2007.

Learn More


Trasteros and Trunks from the Permanent Collection

Trasteros and Trunks from the Permanent Collection


January 3, 2007 - November 30, 2008

During the early Middle Ages the Spanish adopted the Moorish use of chests, low stools, and benches are the predominant furniture items being placed around the edges of rooms. 

Learn More


Needles + Pins:

Needles + Pins:

Textiles & Tools
March 27, 2008 - February 15, 2009

Needles and Pins: Textiles and Tools was as much about textiles and the many processes of creating them as it is the tools themselves. Rare and never before seen textiles were displayed in Needles and Pins: Textiles and Tools selected from the Museum of International Folk Art’s vast collection of more than 20,000 textiles. Spinning wheels, looms, needles, sewing boxes, and adrinka stamps, among many other tools of the trade, will also come from the Museum’s rich holdings.

Learn More


A Chair For All Reasons

A Chair For All Reasons


June 29, 2008 - January 4, 2009

Sitting is a universal experience. Throughout the world, people settle into chairs, stretch out on benches, perch on stools, sink into sofas or cushion themselves with a pillow, marking the body’s state as being both stationary yet dynamic. 

Learn More


Nuevo México: El Corazón de la Cultura

Nuevo México: El Corazón de la Cultura

in Lloyd's Treasure Chest
December 24, 2008 - September 27, 2009

Nuevo México: El Corazón de la Cultura, or New Mexico: The Heart of Culture, at the Museum of International Folk Art, showcased the best of Hispano/Latino arts of New Mexico from the early colonial period to 2008. This exhibition presented a unique opportunity to view these works of art up close and personal in Lloyd’s Treasure Chest while the Hispanic Heritage Wing underwent renovations from December 2008 to September 27, 2009.

Learn More


Dancing Shadows, Epic Tales: Wayang Kulit of Indonesia

Dancing Shadows, Epic Tales: Wayang Kulit of Indonesia

Epic Tales: Wayang Kulit of Indonesia
March 8, 2009 - March 14, 2010

Wayang kulit performance of Indonesia is among the oldest and greatest story telling traditions in the world, is said to lie at the heart of Javanese culture. Wayang kulit are flat, elaborately painted and intricately carved and perforated leather shadow puppets that cast dazzling shadows through a cotton screen. Traditional performances last all night, beginning in the evening and lasting to dawn. Wayang Kulit performances are always accompanied by a gamelan orchestra—a traditional Indonesian musical ensemble that includes a variety of instruments such as gongs, drums, metallaphones, xylophones, stringed instruments, and vocalists.

 

Learn More


Writing With Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities

Writing With Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities

Traveling exhibition
May 15, 2009 - August 16, 2009

Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities, featured a rare collection of entire ensembles of women’s, men’s and children’s ceremonial dress, baby carriers, quilt covers, festive and religious vestments, silver jewelry, embroidered silk valences, and wax-resist dyed curtains, plus a loom, weaving tools, and embroidery cases. 

Learn More


A Century of Masters:

A Century of Masters:

The NEA Heritage Fellows of New Mexico
September 27, 2009 - January 31, 2011

Each year, the National Endowment for the Arts honors folk artists, storytellers, performers, and musicians throughout the United States for their contributions to traditional art forms. The National Heritage Fellows demonstrate artistic excellence and a commitment to their art forms through their processes, techniques, and transmission of the knowledge to others that strengthens and enriches their communities.

Learn More


Material World:

Material World:

Textiles and Dress from the Collection
December 20, 2009 - August 7, 2011

Material World presented a tantalizing glimpse into the Museum of International Folk Art’s largest collection of textiles and costumes stored in 57 closets and numerous trunks and drawers. The 138 rarely-seen items in this exhibition highlighted the remarkable breadth and depth of 20,000 objects ranging from everyday household articles to elaborately detailed ceremonial wear in the Museum’s textile collection.

Learn More


Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda

Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda

The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda
June 6, 2010 - January 6, 2011

Nearly two hundred examples of Pineda’s acclaimed silver work were displayed in Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda, a traveling exhibition from the Fowler Museum at UCLA. 

Learn More


Empowering Women:

Empowering Women:

Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities
July 4, 2010 - May 8, 2011

All of the cooperatives featured in this exhibit had artist booths at the 2010 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. Exhibition highlights included weaving, beadwork, painting, baskets, embroidery and other traditional folk arts from Bolivia, Rwanda, Peru, Swaziland, India, Kenya, Laos, South Africa, Morocco and Nepal.

Learn More


LloydÂ's Treasure Chest: Folk Art in Focus

LloydÂ's Treasure Chest: Folk Art in Focus


On long-term display

Lloyds’s Treasure Chest: Folk Art in Focus is a participatory gallery that encourages the exploration of folk art and contemplation of what is meant by “folk art.” Temporary, thematic displays are drawn from, and highlight the museum’s permanent collection of folk art, which is the museum’s “treasure.”

Learn More


Folk Art of the Andes

Folk Art of the Andes


April 17, 2011 - March 10, 2013

Folk Art of the Andes was the first exhibit in the United States to feature a broad range of folk art from the Andean region of South America, showcasing more than 850 works of Andean folk art primarlity from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Learn More


The Arts of Survival: Folk Expression in the Face of Natural Disaster

The Arts of Survival: Folk Expression in the Face of Natural Disaster

in the Gallery of Conscience
July 3, 2011 - April 29, 2012

The Arts of Survival: Folk Expression in the Face of Natural Disaster explored how folk artists helped their communities recover from four recent natural disasters: the Haitian Earthquake; Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast; Pakistani floods; and the recent volcanic eruption of Mt. Merapi in Indonesia. The exhibition opened July 3, 2011 in the Museum of International Folk Art’s Gallery of Conscience  and closed April 29, 2012.

Learn More


Young Brides, Old Treasures

Young Brides, Old Treasures

Macedonian Embroidered Dress
October 1, 2011 - January 6, 2013

Macedonian ethnic dress has it all – it is full of meaning and significance, visually stunning, quite possibly overwhelming, and embodies the skill, expectations, hopes and fears, creative use of materials, and aesthetic sense of the individuals who made and wore it. Saturated with cultural meaning, these many-layered ensembles rank among the best examples of textile art anywhere.

Learn More


New World Cuisine

New World Cuisine

The Histories of Chocolate, Mate Y Más
December 9, 2012 - January 5, 2014

An exploration of the dawn of world cuisine as we know—and consume—it today. New World Cuisine explored how foods around the world developed from mixing the old and the new, and how many of the tastiest dishes and desserts came to be associated with New Mexico. The exhibition was complemented with interactive gallery activities including a scent station, magnetic world map, and a special selection of chocolate and cuisine in the Museum Gift Shop.

Learn More


Plain Geometry Amish Quilts

Plain Geometry Amish Quilts


March 3, 2013 - September 2, 2013

Plain Geometry Amish Quilts explored the origins and aesthetics of a tradition that has evolved in a changing world. These remarkably crafted textiles illustrate the influence of religious proscriptions, westward migration, and interaction with "English" neighbors. The exhibition opened March 3, 2013 and closed September 2, 2013.

Learn More


Tako Kichi: Kite Crazy in Japan

Tako Kichi: Kite Crazy in Japan


June 9, 2013 - July 27, 2014

Tako Kichi: Kite Crazy in Japan, an exhibition of more than 200 Japanese kites.

Learn More


Let's Talk About This:

Let's Talk About This:

Folk Artists Respond to HIV/AIDS
July 7, 2013 - January 5, 2014

The Gallery of Conscience focused on folk artists’ responses to HIV/AIDS, both here in New Mexico, and around the world. The artists  and community special programs for International Folk Arts Week»—with equal parts humor and pathos and love.

Learn More


BRASIL & ARTE POPULAR

BRASIL & ARTE POPULAR


November 17, 2013 - January 5, 2015

A fascinating of unique and vibrant folk traditions were presented in BRASIL & ARTE POPULAR, the exhibition opened Sunday, November 17, 2013 and closed January 5, 2015.

This show featured over 300 pieces from the museum’s rich Brazilian collection: woodblock prints, colorful ceramic and wood folk sculptures, toys and puppets, religious art, festival costumes, and more.

Learn More


Work in Progress:

Work in Progress:

Folk Artists on Immigration -- Exhibition Lab
March 10, 2014 - June 1, 2014

Work in Progress: Folk Artists on Immigration was the prototype for the exhibition lab, preceeding the “official”  exhibition opening with a convening of international and local artists at MOIFA, in conjunction with the International Folk Art Market| Santa Fe,  July 2014.

Learn More


Wooden Menagerie: Made in New Mexico

Wooden Menagerie: Made in New Mexico


April 6, 2014 - February 15, 2015

One of the most far-reaching exhibits of New Mexico animal wood carvings, Wooden Menagerie: Made in New Mexico, debuted at the Museum of International Folk Art on April 6, 2014 with 107 artworks made by such masters as Felipe Archuleta, Patrociñio Barela, and José Dolores López. The exhibition closed February 15, 2015.

Learn More


Between Two Worlds: Folk Artists Reflect on the Immigrant Experience

Between Two Worlds: Folk Artists Reflect on the Immigrant Experience

in the Mark Naylor & Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience
July 6, 2014 - April 3, 2016

The Gallery of Conscience is an experimental space where the public is invited to help shape the content and form of the exhibition through interactive elements and facilitated dialogues.  The gallery changes in response to community input, and is temporarily closed for interim changes. 

Learn More


Pottery of the U.S. South:

Pottery of the U.S. South:

A Living Tradition
October 24, 2014 - November 15, 2015

Pottery was crucial to agrarian life in the U.S. South, with useful forms such as pitchers, storage jars, jugs, and churns being most in demand for the day-to-day activities of a household and farm. Today, a century after that lifeway began to change, potters in the South continue to make vital wares that are distinctively Southern. The Museum of International Folk Art celebrated this “living tradition” of American regional culture with the exhibition 

Learn More


The Red That Colored The World

The Red That Colored The World


May 17, 2015 - September 13, 2015

As a symbol and hue, red has risen to the pinnacle of the color spectrum. Yet few know of its most prolific and enduring source: Cochineal.

Learn More


FLAMENCO: From Spain to New Mexico

FLAMENCO: From Spain to New Mexico

In the Hispanic Heritage Wing
November 22, 2015 - September 10, 2017

Passionate, fiery, sensual, intense In-depth examination of the history and culture of flamenco dance and music.

The Museum of International Folk Art presents Flamenco: From Spain to New Mexico, the most comprehensive exhibition to celebrate and study this living tradition as an art form. The exhibition opened November 22, 2015 and runs through September 10, 2017.  More than 150 objects are featured. Among them, items once used by renowned artists Encarnación López y Júlvez “La Argentinita”, José Greco, and Vicente Romero and María Benítez (both from New Mexico). In addition to other stunning loans from private collectors will be those from the museum’s expansive permanent collection.

Learn More


Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia

Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia

in the Cotsen Gallery, Neutrogena Wing
February 28, 2016 - March 19, 2017

 What more can we ask than for blessings and good fortune? Whether perceived as miraculous boons or a response to ceremonious prayer, blessings and good fortune come in many forms and bring joy, comfort, and balance to our lives. God, deities, nature spirits, and other unseen forces exist in human belief, which can bring both great harm and great fortune to people on earth.

Learn More


The Morris Miniature Circus: Return of the Little Big Top

The Morris Miniature Circus: Return of the Little Big Top


April 3, 2016 - December 31, 2016

Built over the course of forty years by W.J. “Windy” Morris (1904–1978) of Amarillo, Texas, the Morris Miniature Circus is a 3/8”-scale circus model that was acquired by the museum in 1984 and exhibited in 1986. In 2016, the museum will restore and install the Circus once again.

Learn More


No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art

No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art


March 12, 2017 - September 16, 2018

Tramp art is the product of industry, a style of woodworking from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that made use of discarded cigar boxes and fruit crates that were notched and layered to make a variety of domestic objects.

Learn More


Negotiate, Navigate, Innovate: Strategies Folk Artists Use in Today's Global Marketplace

Negotiate, Navigate, Innovate: Strategies Folk Artists Use in Today's Global Marketplace

in the Mark Naylor & Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience
June 4, 2017 - July 16, 2018

The  Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience is an experimental gallery inside the Museum of International Folk Art where the public is invited to help shape the content and form of the exhibition in real tme.

Learn More


Artistic Heritage: Syrian Folk Art

Artistic Heritage: Syrian Folk Art

on Display in Lloyd's Treasure Chest
June 4, 2017 - July 29, 2018

Folk Art is a treasure, and Lloyd’s Treasure Chest offers a participatory gallery experience highlighting the Museum’s permanent collection of over 136,000 objects of international folk art from over 100 countries, representing thousands of unique cultures. Because the entire collection can never be on view at the same time, collections are carefully stored and cared for in rooms such as our Neutrogena Vault, which visitors can view from the Treasure Chest gallery.

Learn More


Quilts of Southwest China

Quilts of Southwest China


July 9, 2017 - January 21, 2018

Chinese quilts have received little attention from scholars, collectors, or museums.  The examples featured here offer an introduction based on new research by a bi-national consortium of American and Chinese museums, including participation by the Museum of International Folk Art.  Embodying layers of history, identity, and expertise, these quilts reveal new insights into the contemporary lives of minority communities adapting to a period of great change in China.

Learn More


Crafting Memory: The Art of Community in Peru

Crafting Memory: The Art of Community in Peru


December 3, 2017 - July 17, 2019

This exhibition explores the new directions taken by current Peruvian folk artists during the recent decades of social and political upheaval and economic change. The exhibition will highlight the biographies and social histories of contemporary artists along with examples of work that preserve family tradition, reimagine older artforms, reclaim pre-Columbian techniques and styles, and forge new directions for arte popular in the 21st century.

Learn More


Beadwork Adorns the World

Beadwork Adorns the World


April 22, 2018 - February 3, 2019

Extraordinary how a small glass bead from the island of Murano (Venice, Italy) or the mountains of Bohemia (Czech Republic) can travel around the world, entering into the cultural life of people far distant. 

Learn More


Cannupa Hanska Luger: Every One

Cannupa Hanska Luger: Every One


August 11, 2018 - September 16, 2018

Every One is a work of art and activism about gender violence in indigenous communities.

Learn More


A Gathering of Voices: Folk Art from the Judith Espinar and Tom Dillenberg Collection

A Gathering of Voices: Folk Art from the Judith Espinar and Tom Dillenberg Collection


December 16, 2018 - September 8, 2019

A Gathering of Voices celebrates the promised gift of the folk art collection of Judith Espinar and Tom Dillenberg. Comprising primarily ceramic traditions from Mexico, Spain, France, Hungary, Morocco, and numerous other countries, the collection also includes rich holdings of New Mexico santos, Latin American retablos, and metalwork, furniture and textiles from around the world. The exhibition brings together the various voices of international cultures and living traditions, through the vision of one collector.

Learn More


VIRTUAL Community through Making From Peru to New Mexico

VIRTUAL Community through Making From Peru to New Mexico

PROGRAMA VIRTUAL Comunidad a través de la Creación De Perú a Nuevo México
January 6, 2019 - May 4, 2020

Community through Making brought together local and Peruvian artists to explore how art shapes healthy and vibrant communities. The installation was a conversation across borders, highlighting three collaborative projects that paired local artists and artists from Peru for 10-day residencies in conjunction with the exhibition Crafting Memory: The Art of Community in Peru. This exhibition in the Gallery of Conscience experimented with community curation, filling the gallery with video, stories, and artworks as created and told by museum program participants over the course of 18 months.

Learn More


VIRTUAL Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe

VIRTUAL Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe


May 5, 2019 - October 27, 2019

Alexander Girard was one of the most influential interior and textile designers of the 20th century. Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe is the first major retrospective on Girard’s work, organized by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. With this new VIRTUAL TOUR open a door to his creative universe and shows his close relationships with contemporaries such as Charles & Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Andy Warhol, Rudi Gernreich, and many others. Featured are Girard’s designs in textiles, furniture, and sculptures, as well as numerous sketches, drawings, and collages never shown before.

Learn More


Girard's Modern Folk

Girard's Modern Folk

in the Lloyd's Treasure Chest
May 5, 2019 - January 26, 2020

Girard’s Modern Folk examines the particular ways in which renowned mid-century American designer Alexander Girard looked to the motifs, patterns, palettes and compositions of traditional arts for his distinctive textiles.

Learn More


Música Buena: Hispano Folk Music of New Mexico

Música Buena: Hispano Folk Music of New Mexico

In the Hispanic Heritage Wing
October 6, 2019 - September 5, 2022

The exhibition Música Buena: The exhibition will focus on the rich history of traditional Hispano music from the arrival of the Spanish through the present.  Once in New Mexico, historic European traditions took on a new life and feel, blending with Native customs and reflecting the land, time, and place where these folkloric songs and traditions developed.

Learn More


Yōkai: Ghosts & Demons of Japan

Yōkai: Ghosts & Demons of Japan


December 8, 2019 - November 5, 2023

Vivid in Japanese art and imagination are creatures that are at once ghastly and comical. Yōkai is a catchall word that generally refers to demons, ghosts, shapeshifters, and “strange” and supernatural beings. Yōkai  are prevalent in Japanese popular and expressive culture; you find them in manga (comics), anime (animation), and character-based games such as Pokémon (“pocket monster”).

Learn More


From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs

From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs


January 12, 2020 - September 5, 2021

The Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) presents From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs, opening January 12, 2020 and running until August 30, 2020. From Combat to Carpet is a traveling exhibition curated by Enrico Mascelloni and Annemarie Sawkins and features more than 40 handwoven rugs with war-related iconography collected over the past forty years.

Learn More


Sewing Stories of Displacement

Sewing Stories of Displacement


February 16, 2020 - May 1, 2021

Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, moments of violence, political upheaval, and natural disaster have led to the displacement of entire communities. Since the 1960s, displaced people throughout the world—women, men, and children—have embroidered the stories of their forced migrations, new transitions, and memories of more stable lives. Through these textiles, they have been able to document their experiences, share their perspectives, and often, supplement their income during desperate times.

Learn More


#mask: Creative Responses to the Global Pandemic

#mask: Creative Responses to the Global Pandemic


May 30, 2021 - January 15, 2023

Face masks have become daily attire for people around the world. More than a Personal Protective Device that keeps ourselves and others safe, face masks have become a creative outlet for many. They are representations of self-expression, political stance, fashion, and a symbol of humanity’s hope and care for one another. This exhibition is an ode to the face mask, and to the artists and every day citizens making their way through the COVID-19 crisis.

Learn More


Glass: selections from the collection

Glass: selections from the collection

Glass display
June 27, 2021 - October 31, 2021

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).

Learn More


Dressing with Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia

Dressing with Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia


December 12, 2021 - February 19, 2023

Dress helps us fashion identity, history, community, and place. Dress has been harnessed as a metaphor for both progress and stability, the exotic and the utopian, oppression and freedom, belonging and resistance. Dressing with Purpose examines three Scandinavian dress traditions—Swedish folkdräkt, Norwegian bunad, and Sámi gákti—and traces their development during two centuries of social and political change across northern Europe.

Learn More


Fashioning Identities: A Companion to Dressing with Purpose.

Fashioning Identities: A Companion to Dressing with Purpose.


December 12, 2021 - February 19, 2023

Fashioning Identities: A Companion to Dressing with Purpose. This display in Lloyd’s Treasure Chest Gallery serves as a companion to Dressing with Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia by offering more examples from our permanent collection of Sámi duodji, textile-making tools, and regional clothing from Northern Europe. December 12, 2021 - February 19, 2023. 

Learn More


Between the Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy | A Community Conversation

Between the Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy | A Community Conversation


March 31, 2023 - November 5, 2023

Along with exploring exhibition themes, aesthetics, materials and artists, visitors will have the opportunity to provide their input in this initial iteration of the upcoming exhibition Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy.  This six-month exhibition will ask visitors to reflect on individual pieces and installation themes through a series of prompts, talk back boards and a dialogue lounge, while offering opportunities for community members to share their personal stories related to the show.

A series of community dialogues is also planned for the space, which in concert with visitor input, will help inform the final exhibition set to open in the Cotsen Gallery in 2024.

Purse, artists unknown, 2018-2020, Cibola County Correction Center, Milan, New Mexico. Made from chewing gum wrappers. MOIFA Collection, gift of Santa Fe Dreamers Project.

This purse was made by an asylum-seeking transgender artist, for wear in a prisoner-organized fashion show inside this ICE detention center.

Learn More