A Conversation with Keith Recker about the history behind this seductive color

Keith Recker, a International Folk Art Market board member, fashion insider, and founding editor of HandEye.

When the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market launches the evening of July 13 on Museum Hill, it’ll kick off with a visual bang. The opening night’s theme is “REDefine,” a dazzling celebration of all things red. “Red is automatically a party,” says Keith Recker, a International Folk Art Market board member, fashion insider, and founding editor of the quarterly arts magazine HandEye. “On the color spectrum, it’s a temperature raiser. It connotes fire and blood, which brings passion. But it also brings a basic sense of what humans need from the world: warmth, a hospitable place to be.”

Ghida Salim Said Al Batahara from Oman

Recker would know. He co-wrote the book Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color, a fascinating look at the cultural history of color through the last century. Hues go in and out of vogue based on a myriad of factors: current events, world politics, Hollywood celebrities, fashion, advertising, even cartoons. “It all goes into the soup,” says Recker.

Red had its big moment in the 1950s, when the country, free from the burden of war, was at its most optimistic. Cosmetic companies and big-screen sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Jane Mansfield brought the fiery, sultry hue into the mainstream. From the decade’s ruby jewelry to blazing Revlon lipstick and spangled dresses, “red was a gorgeous declaration of feminine sensuality.” By the 1960s, pink had eclipsed crimson as the color du jour, and the 70s were all about shaggy hair, earthy colors, and in Recker’s words, “too much suede fringe.” But by the time Melanie Griffith flaunted her power red business suit in the movie “Wall Street” in 1987, red was in the midst of a decade-long rebound that would only be supplanted by the minimalist basic black of the 90s.

Party decorations range from enormous crimson paper flowers to red lanterns and crimson Papier-mâché doves, and, not surprisingly, draw on a vibrant tradition of red from around the world.

But if the Market’s opening night party is any indication, red is once again back. “They say it’s the only color that sells in the United States,” says Recker, who notes that the latest shades include a strong orange influence. (Trend alert: The Pantone color of the year for 2012 is tangerine tango, according to Recker, who consults for the company.) Party decorations range from enormous crimson paper flowers to red lanterns and crimson Papier-mâché doves, and, not surprisingly, draw on a vibrant tradition of red from around the world. “In Asia, red is a celebration. In India, it’s worn by brides, and in China, it’s used to ring in the New Year,” he explains. And at its most universal, “it’s a blazing announcement that something exciting is going to happen.” Can there be any better color to ring in the Market?

—Katie Arnold

Award-winning travel writer, Arnold’s stories have appeared in Travel & Leisure, The New York Times and Sunset among other publications. She also writes a Raising Rippers column for OutsideOnline.com.

A Conversation with Mike Mullins (a.k.a. the Magic Maker)

The Ambiance team makes beautiful arrangements using the paper flowers and papier-mâché birds from Mexico. Photo: Dana Waldon

For the past six years, Mike Mullins has been the artist behind the artists at the International Folk Art Market. As the “director of ambiance,” the Dallas-based event and film producer is in charge of setting the mood and decorating the preview party and the swags and flags that hang over every booth on Museum Hill. It’s a massive creative undertaking that starts with blue-sky brainstorming sessions and a shopping trip to Mexico City to buy thousands of paper flowers and decorations, and ends with a three-week-long decorating session on Museum Hill. In the calm before the storm, Mike spills the beans on this year’s theme, talks about the perils and pleasures of decorating with paper, and dishes on what he’s shopping for at this year’s Market.

Director of ambiance—that sounds like a big job. Where do you start?

First we settle on a theme. [Creative director] Judy Espinar and I are in rapport heaven. It’s almost comical how alike we think. It’s as if our e-mails cross en route—with the same ideas! We’ve done African themes and East India, where everything was orange and saffron. Last year we went over the top with paper flowers. The largest one was a yard in diameter!

What’s the theme this year?

We’re really going red, redder, and reddest. Rouge, fuchsia, hot pink—every shade you can imagine. We’ve got red flowers, butterflies, red garland, swags, new red tent poles decorations, red birds, red lanterns, paper flowers from Mexico, but also decorations from Asia. Most everything’s handmade. One of our opening Friday night centerpieces will be a four-sided bar on the Plaza. Keep your eyes open for that.

Mike took this photo in Mexico City. “The people who make the flowers for us are from a talented three-generation family of paper artists. Their booth is packed with flowers, and we show them a picture of what we like, and next thing you know they’re taking crepe paper and cutting and rolling it to create prototypes,” says Mike. “This is real folk art, made by hand by a family and significantly supported by the Folk Art Market.” Photo: Mike Mullins

Where do you find your flowers in Mexico City?

It’s so classically Mexico. We go to an amazing mercado. It’s huge. I don’t remember seeing another American there. It’s spread over several blocks. The people who make the flowers for us are from a talented three-generation family of paper artists. Their booth is packed with flowers. We show them a picture of what we like, and next thing you know they’re taking crepe paper and cutting and rolling it to create prototypes. Those need to be refined, of course, so we’ll come back the next day or the day after and see what they’ve created. This is real folk art, made by hand by a family and significantly supported by the Folk Art Market. We also use work by Pedro Ortega, who works in his studio in Mexico City. He’s a master paper artist who’s shown at the Market and is coming back this year, which is big news.

How many paper flowers and decorations do you bring back?

Our orders are huge, thousands of pieces. We’ll order at least a thousand butterflies alone. Consequently, these are big commercial shipments. We sweat blood because of the customs, not to mention that first they have to be made! It’s nerve-racking! This year, the biggest flower is maybe two feet across, all the way down to tiny thumbnail crepe paper roses. They weave those into teracitas, like Greek olive wreaths that can be tied together and streamed in garlands. Everything is so organic, with nothing locked into place. I depend on our artists to give me something more than I anticipate.

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For years, legal travel to Cuba has been almost impossible for Americans, making this culture-rich island a forbidden fruit for the adventurous. When policy changes in 2011 greatly expanded travel opportunities for Cuba-bound visitors, Peggy Gaustad organized two Passport to Folk Art trips to share her love of this amazing country. The groups flew into Havana, pictured here, considered the leading cultural center of the country. Photo: Kelly Waller

A conversation with Peggy Gaustad

Peggy pictured at Havana’s La Bodeguita del Medio restaurant, one of Hemingway’s favorite watering holes and the home of house band TradiSon. Photo: Gay Browning

Peggy Gaustad first visited Cuba in 1999, with her husband, Stuart Ashman who grew up in Cuba, and their two children. Since then, the longtime board member of the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market has returned many times, including a 2009 scouting trip for the Market where she helped forge relationships with four Cuban painters and the five-piece band TradiSon, all of whom made acclaimed debut appearances at the Market in 2010.

Most recently, Peggy has been guiding her own people-to-people trips to Cuba for the International Folk Art Market and the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, including three in the last three months. We caught up with Peggy between trips to talk about how travel to Cuba has changed since President Obama eased travel restrictions last year, what draws her to Cuban folk art, and her own personal strategies for shopping the Market.

Tell me about your first scouting mission to look at art in Cuba.

Three of us—Judy Espinar (Market co-founder and creative director), Charlene Cerny (Market co-founder and executive director), and myself—went in December 2009 with the intent of seeing what the state of folk art was. We were particularly interested in seeing the work of Cuba’s naive art movement, especially as it relates to the Afro-Cuban religion Santería. We saw lots of great paintings, especially in the town of Cienfuegos, on the southern coast. When we arrived, the local artists were assembled to show us their work, and it was fantastic. We ended up bringing back paintings from three artists to sell at a special booth at the Market—Carlos Alberto Cáceres Valladares, Cenia Gutiérrez Alfonso, and Roberto Domingo Gil Esteban—plus a fourth from Havana, Nancy Reyes Suarez.

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