A Party to Remember

It was a great party. As a velvety darkness descended, the African Showboyz, five brothers from Ghana, rocked Milner Plaza with propulsive drum rhythms, mixed with wishes for long life and prosperity for everybody in the crowd on the opening night of the ninth annual Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.  People swayed to the music as they shopped, stood talking to friends, or lingered over chocolate-dipped strawberries while they watched the world go by.  “I love coming on Friday night,” said one Market goer. “I get a chance to say hello to my favorite artists, it’s not crowded, and I always like the food they have.”

The Friday night Market feels almost intimate and personal. There’s time to look up and spy silky-looking, blue-green drinking goblets of hand blown Hebron glass from Palestine.  Or wander down another aisle and encounter the legendary fine white gauze weaving of Cobán, in Guatemala.  There’s room and time to actually get all wrapped up in the complicated, colorful patterns of the hand woven rag rugs from Morocco, made by a cooperative of tribal women who still wear traditional Berber tattoos on their faces.  Or stop into the booth of Claudia Martínez Vargas, a self-taught artist from Mexico, who looks beautiful wearing a gorgeous huipil with a long skirt.  Everyone around bursts into laughter as she grabs a camera made from a recycled Coke can and snaps a visitor’s picture.  Out from the aperture springs a drawing of a woman’s face, sticking out a bright red tongue.

In fact, the color red was everywhere.  People in every shade of red poured off the arriving buses, to be greeted by smiling Market volunteers holding platters of red watermelon chunks.  In keeping with the opening night’s theme of “REDefine,” red dominated the Market, in festoons of decorations and in the great bursts of paper blooms and unique toys in the Ambiance Booth, where it’s possible and even necessary to buy a treasure for everybody in your entire life.  Over at the UNESCO booth, carmine red leather pouches from India, stitched with metallic silver designs, are carried away to make new homes for cell phones.

Moussa Albaka, the tall Tuareg silversmith from Niger, became a candidate for most photographed artist at the Market.  He never wore out his dazzling white smile.  With all the artists at the Market, this year from 49 countries, the welcome was as warm and generous.  Give yourself a present and go on Friday night.  It’s a party you’ll always remember.

- Leslie Clark
Freelance writer and editor based in Santa Fe.

Photos: David Moore