The Exchange Blog
May 13, 2013
From Worthless Items to Priceless Art – Dubréus Lhérisson’s Vodou Flags
This entry was posted on Monday, May 13th, 2013 at 2:22 am and is filed under Artists Spotlights, Videos.
April 29, 2013
‘The lives of my family hang on the threads which I embroider’ – the Market Helps SEWA Bring Holistic Development to Rural India
This entry was posted on Monday, April 29th, 2013 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Artists Spotlights, Videos.
March 25, 2013
2013 Folk/Art/Cinema Film Series
Folk art, with its deep expressions of cultures, values, and traditions, reflects experiences of communities and artists in an increasingly connected world.
A collaborative project between the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market and CCA, our 2013 film series presents the beauty, challenges and inspiration woven into folk art. Join us in a celebration of cinema that reflects traditional cultures from around the world.
The series is produced by the International Folk Art Market – Santa Fe, with films curated by Emmy-winning writer-producer Kirk Ellis (JOHN ADAMS) and CCA Cinematheque Director Jason Silverman.
April 17 • Opening Night Party! — Devi (The Goddess)
5:30 p.m. Tickets: $20
“Ray’s feeling for the intoxicating beauty within the disintegrating way of life of the 19th-century landowning class makes this one of the rare, honest films about decadence.” –Pauline Kael
Celebrate Indian culture with appetizers and chai from India Palace, a traditional Indian dance performance, an inspirational video message from Market participant Reema Nanavaty of India’s Self Employed Women’s Association, and a rare screening of Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece. Devi follows the story of Kalikinkar, an aging patriarch who dreams that his daughter-in-law Doyamoyee is an incarnation of the goddess Kali. After Kalikinkar insists the villagers worship her, Doyamoyee miraculously heals a sick child. Believers line up, and Doyamoyee begins to believe in her own powers. Despite its anti-establishment message, the gorgeous, haunting Devi won the prestigious President’s Gold Medal in 1961. (India, 1960, 97m, digital video courtesy of Janus Films)
May 15 • The Story of Qiu Ju
7 p.m. $12
“Mr. Zhang’s keen and universal view of human nature raises his work far above its own visual beauty and into the realm of timeless storytelling.” –New York Times
Zhang Yimou, China’s greatest living filmmaker, tells the story of a young village woman (the radiant Gong Li) living in traditional ways. After a local official insults her husband, she travels to the big city in search of justice, navigating the baffling modern world. Zhang has created one of the most striking films about the challenges of contemporary China, featuring a keen sense of its rhythms and landscapes and providing a miraculous balance of the absurd and the poignant. (China, 1992, 100m, 35mm print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
June 12 • Central Station
7 p.m. $12
“A richly tender and moving experience … Salles, like De Sica and Renoir, displays a pure and unpatronizing feel for the poetry of broken lives. His movie is really about that most everyday of miracles: the rebirth of hope.” –Entertainment Weekly
In Rio, the callous Dora (the legendary Fernanda Montenegro, nominated for an Oscar) writes letters for a parade of the poor and the illiterate. After hearing the story of a recently orphaned nine-year-old boy, she decides to take him on a search through the countryside for his father. In this Golden Globe-winning road movie, Walter Salles (MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, ON THE ROAD) shows us the peoples and cultures of Brazil—both traditional and modern—as you’ve never seen them, and celebrates our potential for rebirth. Followed by a pre-recorded Skype interview with director Walter Salles. (Brazil, 1998, 113m, 35mm print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
All films will be shown at the CCA Cinematheque
Advance ticket purchases encouraged online, these shows are likely to sell out.
1050 Old Pecos Trail • 505.982.1338 • ccasantafe.org
This entry was posted on Monday, March 25th, 2013 at 5:07 pm and is filed under In the News.
March 20, 2013
Folk Art Market Contributes to Creative and Social Enterprise in the 21st Century
Dr. Manuel Montoya, Ahdina Zunkel and Shawn McQueen-Ruggerio
What part does social enterprise play in the world economy? Folk Art Market Executive Director, Shawn McQueen-Ruggerio and Market Artist Development Director, Ahdina Zunkel participated as honored respondents at a talk by Ashoka Lemelson Fellow, Greg Van Kirk on this very topic.
The talk was presented by International Business Students Global (IBSG) and the UNM Anderson School of Management in conjunction with the announcement of IBGS partnering with Van Kirk’s organization, the Social Entrepreneur Corp. The Corp works with social entrepreneurs in developing countries – work closely aligned with that of the Market’s.
Greg Van Kirk, Ashoka Lemelson Fellow and founder of the Social Entrepreneur Corp.
What is social entrepreneurship? Van Kirk defined it this way:
- when earning a living also helps the community
- when business opportunities have social impact
- when profitability leads to social impact and not just money
- when the endeavor involves persistence, creativity, innovation and value
“It’s not about what we do, but what we set in motion,” said Van Kirk, “taking an empathetic approach to working with people.”
What has the Market set in motion and how has its programming contributed to the advancement of social entrepreneurship?
- More than 650 Master artisans have participated in our Market
- 1.23 million lives have been impacted by the Market opportunity
- Over 10 years, artists sales exceeded $16 million, 90% went home with the artists and their organizations
In addition, the Market is working on its teaching model which focuses on business and marketing workshops for folk artists each year. Mentor to Market is a peer-to-peer knowledge exchange that not only brings professionals in the field to mentor the artists, but also allows the artists to mentor each other. For example, if a cooperative in Bolivia is struggling to find a way to manage their money, the Market could share what it knows about money management – but it prefers to connect them with a cooperative leader in Peru that has a successful model.
The Market’s participation in the UNM event is not the first collaboration between the two entities. In 2012, Dr. Manuel Montoya of the UNM Anderson School of Management and a group of philosophy and business students (members of The Poetics Project) conducted a study to identify factors contributing to the Market’s sustainability and success as an NGO.
Dr. Montoya says the students wanted to go beyond the typical study of an organization’s success. The students looked at profit and the ability of the Market to organize artists, but they also examined the significance of the event itself and the cultural phenomena it presents. The students tried to understand the Market as an educational institution – its curriculum, pedagogy, engagement and how the organization treats folk art. Dr. Montoya says that this is what sets the Folk Art Market apart.
“They (the Market) are tacitly aware of the great tension in the 21st century. What has been produced as a result of mass production, and what has been preserved by valuing what has been done by hand. As a community, they provide values and leadership in understanding those values, “ says Montoya. “There are very few other institutions who understand at that level what is going on.”
The Market looks forward to a continuing relationship with the UNM Anderson School of Management, International Business Students Global and the students involved in the Poetics Project.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
February 20, 2013
HALF THE SKY – International Women’s Day: Celebrating Women Making a Difference
Olivia Wilde with Rebecca Lolosoli. Photo by Jessica Chermeyeff as seen in “Vogue”
International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s. Today it is a day to celebrate and honor the work of women who have raised their voices to fight oppression and who have given of their talents to make the world a better and equal place for all. Although great strides have been made, there is more work to be done to bring economic, social and political equality to women around the world.
One way to do this is through economic empowerment. No one knows this better than Rebecca Lolosoli, a Folk Art Market artist and matriarch of the Umoja Uaso Women’s Village in Kenya. The Village is a safe haven for women and girls fleeing abuse. The women not only provide for their children and themselves by selling their beaded jewelry, but also share resources including a disability fund, community center, and school. Rebecca is one of many women making a difference and whose stories are told by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide – now a documentary film.
The film was shot in 10 countries: Cambodia, Kenya, India, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Liberia and the United States and features reporter Nicholas Kristof as well as celebrity advocates like America Ferrera and Oliva Wilde.
The Market has teamed up with The Lensic Performing Arts Center and New Mexico PBS to present a segment of Half the Sky on March 7, 2013, that includes Rebecca Lolosoli. The screening will be followed by a panel presentation moderated by Ali MacGraw, featuring New Mexico women who are making a difference locally and worldwide.
For more information on the event please visit www.folkartmarket.org/halfthesky.
In addition, you have a chance to submit your questions for the panel via Facebook and Twitter. Send us a your question as a comment on Facebook or to @sffolkartmarket using the hashtag #IFAMpanel and Ali MacGraw may use your question the night of the event.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
February 15, 2013
‘This tradition is getting life again’ – creating opportunities for women and girls in Pakistan
This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2013 at 8:22 pm and is filed under Artists Spotlights, Videos.
January 29, 2013
The Alliance for Artisan Enterprise—Bringing Artisan Enterprise to Scale
Members of the Market community attended the formal launch of the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise at the U.S. Department of State, hosted by and in partnership with The Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 27, 2012.
As a founding member of the Alliance, the Market proudly joined with our fellow 22 founders and global stakeholders to announce the launch of this important, new public-private sector led alliance designed to support and grow artisan enterprise, improve livelihoods, sustain craft communities, preserve cultural heritage and contribute to sustainable economic and social development.
Over the last six months, we have been privileged to be involved with the initial planning and launch of the Alliance. Members of the State Department’s Office of Women’s Global Issues traveled to Santa Fe for the 2012 International Folk Art Market to meet with our staff, observe our Artist Training Programs, visit with artisans and learn more about our ten years of work with folk artists from around the world. Joining the Alliance as a founding member was a natural extension of our mission to provide opportunities for folk artists to succeed in the global marketplace.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 at 6:49 pm and is filed under In the News.
January 14, 2013
Welcome Our New Executive Director: Shawn McQueen-Ruggeiro
Shawn McQueen-Ruggeiro, IFAM Executive Director
The International Folk Art Market begins a new chapter in its 10th Anniversary year with a new Executive Director, Shawn McQueen-Ruggeiro.
Shawn joins us in Santa Fe from San Diego, California where, for the past eight years, she has worked with Project Concern International (PCI), a leading health and development organization. Her passion for art and her experience working in the developing world led her here, to the International Folk Art Market.
While at PCI, Shawn launched “Women Empowered”, a savings-based empowerment program designed to help the most vulnerable women in the world. She also led the organization’s re-branding effort and its 50th Anniversary celebration. She recruited an impressive list of collaborators and influential supporters for PCI including: famed Peruvian economist Fernando de Soto; Kenneth Kaunda, the first democratically elected president of Zambia; Kenyan activist Wahu Kaara; musician and activist Bonnie Raitt; Zimbabwean international recording star Oliver Mtukudzi; and Mohammed Yunus.
Shawn finds inspiration in the incredible people she has met while working in the developing world – like William Kamkwamba. William created a windmill made out of found objects on his farm in Malawi and wrote the book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Her proudest accomplishments have been the life-long friendships she has forged with beneficiaries like Tobias Tembo – a former street child from Zambia and now a graduate of the University of Zambia – and Pintuk Jha, the first graduate from PCI’s shelter home, who is now a student at a technical college in Delhi, India.
Shawn was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California and is an alumna of the University of California – Santa Barbara where she earned a bachelor of arts in history with a Latin American emphasis and a certificate in Global Peace and Security. She also holds a certificate in fundraising from UCLA. She began her career with the American Red Cross as a field representative in South Central Los Angeles and served as the public information officer and shelter manager during the civil unrest following the Rodney King beatings. From there she went on to a fundraising positions with White Memorial Medical Center, the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation and the Ocean Institute.
A self-described sufferer of “wanderlust”, Shawn continues to travel with her young family. In fact, she’s been known to empty her suitcases to make room for folk art and other treasures found during her travels. Her husband and two daughters will be following her here to New Mexico on her next big adventure. We hope you’ll join us in welcoming them to Santa Fe!
This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2013 at 3:59 pm and is filed under In the News, Meet the Staff and Volunteers.
December 4, 2012
‘A Beacon of Hope’ – the International Folk Art Market’s impact in Rwanda
Janet Nkubana. Photo by Harvey Morgan II
Janet Nkubana is grateful. The co-founder of Gahaya Links in Rwanda, a group of women artisans whose basket-weaving has provided vital income for them following the Rwandan genocide of 1994, deserves gratitude herself from many people. But she’s clear that the International Folk Art Market has been instrumental in this amazing story of recovery and empowerment.
She puts it like this: “Thank you for being a beacon of hope to many of us, your support has touched so many lives in our country and has restored our dignity and values.”
Rwandan women have for centuries passed on to their daughters the skills to weave baskets using a variety of organic reeds and grasses, and carrying designs with longstanding cultural meanings.
Following the genocide, Gahaya Links was founded as a way of turning Rwanda’s ancient basket weaving tradition into a source of livelihood for the rural women who found themselves without any means of support.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Artists Spotlights.
November 18, 2012
“A Blessing” – Impact of the International Folk Art Market in Laos
Orijyn artisan, Bandith Ladpakdy
Having a sense of belonging and community is something for which we all can be thankful. For the artisans of Orijyn and the Saoban cooperative in Laos, the Market provides a community that spans the globe. From the inspiration provided by a network of fellow artisans, to the tireless determination of Market staff and volunteers, to the positive reinforcement from enthusiastic Market patrons – Orijyn’s artisans find strength, belonging, pride and a shared appreciation of the importance of handicrafts in sustaining culture and tradition. It’s the people in the Market community for whom they are the most thankful.
“Since our acceptance into the show, the Santa Fe Folk Art Market has been a blessing,” says Mark Sloneker of Orijyn. “It was not just the great sales, though the sales have been very helpful in building revenue. It’s the network that has long-term value.”
Orijyn first brought its exquisite silver jewelry from Laos to the Market in 2009. Orijyn works with PADETC, a non-profit school in Laos that houses Saoban, a silversmith cooperative working to preserve traditional art forms by teaching a younger generation and providing education and healthcare to artisans.
Sloneker says the Market community has raised the credibility level of Orijyn’s artisans and increased the confidence of prospective wholesalers in the cooperative’s ability to develop and maintain professional business relationships. The increase in revenue from direct sales at the Market, twenty new wholesale relationships, catalog and online sales with National Geographic and two large orders from QVC have had a direct impact on the lives of artisans and their families in Laos.
The new revenue has enabled Orijyn to train new staff and add 50+ artisans to the Saoban silversmith group. Its new microloan program is providing supplies to artisans that cannot afford to make the initial investment in materials. Programs to teach accounting and co-op development, as well as basic healthcare have all increased. It has opened a store in Vientiane to capture the tourist trade and develop the Saoban brand. Sloneker is proud to report that the store is both self-sustaining and generating new wholesale customers from around the world.
Students and artisans with the Saoban handcraft division of the PADETC
The Saoban handcraft division is leading the way for the other divisions within PADETC – becoming a profit center and a model for supply chain development, branding and marketing. The managers are now teaching other Lao entrepreneurs how to build and sustain a business. Orijyn and Saoban are reaching their goals through the support and assistance of the Market community.
“We now have lifelong friends around the world,” says Sloneker. “We share our experiences and trials, and offer each other support and ideas to improve the work we do. We don’t feel alone in our endeavors”.
Without a doubt, a community to be thankful for.
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2012 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Artists Spotlights.
October 29, 2012
“My life changed completely” – the impact of the Market for Josnel Bruno
Josnel Bruno
Josnel Bruno, from Croix-des-Bouquets in Haiti, makes beautiful recycled oil drum bowls and platters, and 2012 was the first year in which his work was available at the Market.
Visa problems meant Josnel himself was unable to attend, but the impact on his life from the sale of his work at the Market has been profound.
Financial support from the Market and sponsorship from HAND/EYE Fund, covered the cost of his booth and longtime friend and supporter of Haitian artists Susan Tselos worked at the booth on his behalf.
Keth Recker of HAND/EYE (and Market Board Member) says, “HAND/EYE Fund’s roots in Haiti are deep. We published an entire issue of HAND/EYE Magazine focused on the art, craft, design and spiritual traditions of Haiti. We have operated, with funding from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, an artisan development program called the Artisan Business Network. And we have had a strong artisan grants program since 2010.
“Among the grants we are most proud of are our sponsorships of artists headed to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. Included in this group are bead-and-sequin artist Mireille Delisme and metalworker Josnel Bruno.”
This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2012 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Artists Spotlights.
September 28, 2012
“An Amazing Adventure” – Naema Birali’s experience at the Market
Naema Birala. Photo: © Bob Smith
Moroccan jewelry maker Naema Birali from the co-operative Artisanat des Femmes de Khenifra was a first-time attendee at the Market this year. The co-operative has been working with Marcia Newlands from the Peace Corps to reflect on their experiences in Santa Fe, and plan for the best use of the money they earned.
The women of the co-operative shared their earnings based on the sales of each of their items, and they put 30% of their money back into the co-operative. Marcia explains, “They will also use some of the money to buy supplies to make more jewelry. However, they feel that they can now look to making some sort of difference in the community if they are invited back, and are discussing possible activities. One thing they want to do is to teach other young women the art of making the jewelry. They also want to study English and several of them are joining together to pay a teacher to help them.”
The money the women took home will go to help with day-to-day expenses, such as school supplies and clothes for their children, or perhaps buying a refrigerator for their homes, or a fan to help with the heat (it averages 110 degrees and higher for at least three months every summer). Read the rest of this entry »
This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2012 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Artists Spotlights.
August 28, 2012
MARKET ARTISTS HONORED AS LIVING LEGENDS
Six Market artists have been honored with invitations to attend “Kaivalam: The Future is Handmade,” a World Craft Summit taking place October 7-10, 2012 in Chennai, India. As “Living Legends,” only twelve master artists in the world are asked to the event. The Summit is held every two years in a different country by the World Crafts Council, an international non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1964 to support traditional craft artists. At the conference, all the Living Legend artists will participate in an exhibition/workshop, where they will demonstrate their techniques and talk about their culture and their vision for the future of folk art. Joining them will be six master artists from India, who also share their skills and expertise.
Moussa Albaka of Niger will demonstrate his jewelry making techniques at this year’s World Craft Summit in Chennai, India. Photo © David Moore
The Market artists include Moussa Albaka of Niger, Gasali Adeyemo of Nigeria, Remigio Mestas of Mexico, Zarina Kendjaeva of Uzbekistan, Georges Valris of Haiti, and Abduljabbar Mahmadhushen Khatri of India. Each has been chosen for their outstanding accomplishments as an artist practicing a traditional cultural form. Moussa Albaka, a two-time UNESCO Award of Excellence-winner, hand makes traditional silver jewelry of the Tuareg. At the workshop he will show how he engraves the intricate geometric designs on his pieces, as well as applying decorative inlay and the lost wax process. Gasali Adeyemo, of the Yoruba tribe from Nigeria, is celebrated for his hand-dyed indigo, and designing batik, adireand tie-dye cotton fabrics. “I’ve been dreaming about India since I was a little kid,” an excited Gasali says. Many Indians live and work in Nigeria, and he has always wanted to visit their country.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
July 18, 2012
A Market to Remember
The world came together at the 2012 Market
Spirits rose high over a spectacular sunny weekend of shopping, dancing, sightseeing and people-watching at the 2012 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. In its best year ever, the Market reported that artists from Afghanistan to Zambia, representing 54 countries in all, brought in an estimated record $2.4 million, a 4.5% increase over 2011. Sales on Friday night came close to an estimated $600,000, another Market triumph. Elhadji Koumama, from the nomadic Tuareg tribe in Niger, emerged as one of the top sellers with his magical silver amulets and jewelry made by the lost-wax method, then engraved and hammered. The artistry, stories and symbolism of handmade crafts and age-old cultural traditions won the hearts and minds of visitors, who came to revel in the Market experience and left carrying newfound treasures and a new view of the world.
In a sight to behold, the Market blazed across Milner Plaza, festooned in vivid, colorful decorations and displays of folk art. The brilliant, multihued ribbons and garlands set off the real showstoppers: the beautiful traditional clothing worn by the artists. Gold-encrusted headdresses, graceful silk saris, and elaborately appliquéd jackets were only some examples of the variety on view, not to mention adornments. Artists from the world’s newest country, South Sudan, appeared in the dazzling beadwork of the Dinka people. Smiling volunteers were always glad to help out or explain about the artists’ workmanship and homelands.
With the visual fireworks brightening everyone’s mood, other senses got to celebrate too. Market goers reveled in the sounds of live music and dance performances, sampled different dishes from the global food bazaar, and tried on hand-embroidered men’s skullcaps or ran fingertips over an intricately carved wood mask The smell of roasted nuts spiced the air, and thirsty visitors found free water stations everywhere. The African Showboyz, a quintet from Ghana, headlined Thursday’s celebration at the Railyard and amped up the weekend’s party atmosphere with an energy and ambiance that had the whole crowd revved.
A group of girls filling their “passports” with national flag stickers at the International Folk Art Market. © Donna Rosingana.
Sunday marked the popular Passport Program, in which children collect flag stickers from artists of all the different countries at the Market. Displaying a real talent for diving between shopping bags and conversations, small boys and girls popped up politely for their stickers, then melted away. True to the Market’s vision of bringing the world together, the family feeling sparked a sense of connectedness as artists and visitors talked the universal language of parents. And the thousands of market goers were already making plans for next year on their way out.
- Leslie Clark
Writer and editor, Leslie Clark, is based in Santa Fe.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 at 6:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
July 14, 2012
The Market is Open!
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
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2012 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.