Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities
July 4, 2010 through January 2, 2011

A quiet revolution is taking place around the world led by women artisan cooperatives. Taking the initiative to collectively produce, manage, and market their crafts, they have enriched their lives and become powerful forces in their communities. On July 4, 2010 the Museum of International Folk Art inaugurates its' "Gallery of Conscience," a space dedicated to exploring contemporary issues affecting folk art production and consumption.

Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities kicks off the first annual International Folk Arts Week - a week of demonstrations, lectures, folk music, performances, and other programs held in conjunction with the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market running July 9 through July 11, 2010.

Focusing on ten cooperatives that illustrate how the power of such grassroots collaborations transform women's lives, the exhibit brings together first person quotes, stellar photos, and stunning examples of the cooperatives' handmade traditional arts to tell stories of how women folk artists are working cooperatively to:

. Preserve and reinvigorate their traditional arts
. Generate steady livelihoods for their families
. Give back to their communities
. Become leaders in public life
. Overcome domestic violence
. Develop literacy programs for themselves and their children
. Heal the traumas of war
. Sustain their natural environments
. Save for the Future

The featured cooperatives are drawn from three continents and ten countries including India, Nepal, Swaziland, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Bolivia, Lao PDR, Peru and Morocco. Featured folk arts include embroidered story cloths, hand dyed sisal baskets, beaded neck collars, hand carded and dyed wool weavings, cultivated bromeliad bags, and folk paintings of village life.

"As the largest folk art museum in the world we have a responsibility to create a forum to discuss current issues that folk artists are facing around the world. This 'Gallery of Conscience' will be devoted to the examination of issues that threaten the survival of the traditional arts, bringing them to the attention of our visitors," says Marsha Bol, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art. "We intend to address, over the course of the next few years, such issues as: the ecological implications of the acquisition of materials used in producing folk arts, the impact of political conflict and war on folk arts, and various economic and social issues that threaten to disrupt folk arts. We will also exhibit examples of successful solutions to such circumstances."

There is a strong connection between this exhibition and the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market which has; "always [been] a supporter of cooperatives, recognizing their power to bring both cultural and economic sustainability to communities," said Folk Art Market Director Charlene Cerny, "Most of the cooperatives at the Market involve women."

When anthropologist Dr. Suzanne Seriff was asked to guest curate an exhibition on women's artisan cooperatives at the Museum of International Folk Art she had a unique perspective as head of the Folk Art Market's Selection Committee. Seriff was; ".struck by the large numbers of women's cooperatives applying to the Market, and their incredible stories how working collaboratively changed their lives. In this exhibition I wanted to bring some of these larger stories to the public, to give the women a chance to speak for themselves-in their own words about their work and their lives and how women all over the world are improving their lives, families and communities with the power of cooperatives."

Nicholas Kristof recently wrote in the New York Times how these women's artisan cooperatives are change agents in the developing world. One Moroccan woman teaches a village to read. An embroideress from Gujarat takes out a loan for the first time at the local bank. A Hutu woman from Rwanda works side by side with a Tutsi to make the peace baskets that are working to heal their war-torn country. In Swaziland, the village women use profits from the sale of their handwoven sisal baskets to feed and educate the hundreds of children in their village orphaned from AIDS. In Bolivia, displaced Ayorean women learn to cultivate the bromiliad plants that were once native to their jungle habitat and from which they weave their native dress and hand dyed bags. Women artisans from all over the world are using the power of artisan cooperatives to reach new markets and transform their lives.

Two representatives from each cooperative featured in the exhibit will participate in a full week of demonstrations, discussions, lectures, and artist-led exhibit tours beginning with a facilitated roundtable discussion with the curator during the opening on July 4, 2010 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. The opening will be hosted by the Women's Board of the Museum of New Mexico from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities runs July 4, 2010 through January 2, 2011. High resolution exhibition images may be downloaded from the media center.

Silver Seduction
In the Bartlett Gallery June 6 to September 7, 2010

In the mountain town of Taxco in Mexico's state of Guerrero, large-scale mining can be dated to the sixteenth century, and silver is a way of life. In the years following the Mexican Revolution (1910-20), jewelry and other silver objects were crafted there with an entirely innovative approach, informed by modernism and the creation of a new Mexican national identity. Antonio Pineda was a member of the Taxco School and is recognized as a world-class designer. He lived a long and creative life, passing away at the age of 90 on December 14, 2009.

Nearly two hundred examples of Pineda's acclaimed silver work will be displayed in Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda, a traveling exhibition opening at the Museum of International Folk Art June 6, 2010 through January 2, 2011. Exhibition images may be found at http://media.museumofnewmexico.org/.

From its inception, the Taxco movement broke new ground in technical achievement and design. While American- born, Taxco-based designer William Spratling has been credited with spearheading the contemporary Taxco silver movement, it was a group of talented Mexican designers who went on to establish independent workshops and develop the distinctive "Taxco School." Pineda, internationally renown for his silver work identified himself primarily as a taxqueño, or Taxco, silversmith. These designers incorporated numerous aesthetic orientations-Pre-Columbian art, silverwork, religious images, and other artwork from the Mexican Colonial period, and local popular arts-merging them within the broad spectrum of modernism.

Pineda himself is lauded for his bold designs and ingenious use of gemstones. Silver Seduction traces the evolution of his work from the 1930s-70s, and includes more than a hundred necklaces and bracelets, as well as numerous rings, earrings, and diverse examples of his hollowware and tableware. All of the works feature Pineda's hard-to-achieve combination of highly refined execution and hand-wrought appeal.

Pineda's jewelry is especially known for its elegant acknowledgment of the human form. It is often said that a Pineda fits the body perfectly, that it feels right when it is worn. For example, a thick geometric necklace that might at first glance seem too weighty or rigid to wear comfortably is, in fact, faceted, hinged, or hollowed in such a way that it gracefully encircles the neck or drapes seductively down the décolletage.

In addition, no other taxqueño jeweler used as many costly semiprecious stones or set them with as much ingenuity, skill, and variety as did Pineda. Only the most talented of silversmiths could master the unique challenges posed by setting gemstones in silver at the high temperature necessary to work the metal. Pineda, however, managed to set gems with as little metal touching them as possible, giving them a free or floating look while still holding them firmly in place. In Pineda's hands, some stones were embedded; rows of gems were set close together to emphasize the structural lines of a design; or stones were cut to fit irregular shapes in a design. Pineda often used cultured pearls, large amethyst drops, and onyx in his designs, many examples of which are on display in the exhibition.

The remarkable creativity of this "Silver Renaissance" era represents a unique moment in the design of Mexican jewelry. Pineda's and his colleagues' modernist works lives on today in Taxco with a thriving industry in silver smithing.

The opening on Sunday, June 6, 2010 will be hosted by the Women's Board of the Museum of New Mexico from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda and its publication are made possible through the generosity of the Donald B. Cordry Memorial Fund and Jill and Barry Kitnick. The exhibition was developed by the curatorial team of the Fowler Museum with consulting curator Gobi Stromberg. All works presented are either from the collections of Cindy Tietze and Stuart Hodosh or the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Ongoing Exhibition:
Multiple Visions: A Common Bond
Girard WingExplore the Girard Foundation Collection this unique exhibition designed by the collector and donor, Alexander Girard». Since the opening in 1982, more than a million visitors have been delighted by the richly varied displays of toys, traditional arts, village scenes, textiles, and popular arts. Over 100 countries are represented in Girard's innovative use of the color and gallery space with objects at eye level for visitors 2 to 102, even overhead.

Sunday September 27, 2009
A Century of Masters:The NEA National Heritage Fellows of New Mexico
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.

New Mexico residents are well-represented in this distinguished group of talented artists, especially given the size of the state's population. The Museum of International Folk Art holds examples of the works of all the Fellows from New Mexico in its collections, from weavings, colcha embroidery and silversmithing, to pottery, tinwork, straw appliqué, hide painting, retablos, and woodcarving.

“The quality and range of artworks created by New Mexico’s National Heritage Fellows is impressive. The exhibit will stand as testimony to the dedication and skill of these talented artists;” said Dr. Joyce Ice, former Director of the Museum of International Folk Art.

National Heritage Fellowship Artists from New Mexico:

Charles M. Carrillo» (artist, santero) 2006
Helen Cordero» (Cochiti potter, deceased) 1986
Frances Varos Graves» (colcha embroiderer, deceased) 1994
George López» (artist, woodcarver, deceased) 1982
Ramón José López»(artist, santero) 1997
Esther Martinez» (San Juan storyteller, deceased) 2006
Roberto & Lorenzo Martinez» (musicians) 2003
Eliseo & Paula Rodriguez» (artists, straw appliqué) 2004
Emilio & Senaida Romero» (artists, tinwork, deceased) 1987
Margaret Tafoya» (Santa Clara potter, deceased) 1984
Irvin Trujillo» (Rio Grande weaver) 2007
Cleofes Vigil» (storyteller, singer, deceased) 1984

Sunday December 20, 2009
Material World: Textile Treasures from the Collection
Material World presents 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 highlight 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.

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions