Reaching Local to Global
Friday, August 14, 2009
I had an opportunity to be a part of the Folk Art Market that was organized at Santa Fe from 11-12, July 2009. It was an amazing experience. More than 125 artists from 46 countries gathered at one place, exhibiting their unique talent steeped in the rich traditions and culture of their lands. On the one hand there were works of embroidery, textile work of Afghanistan and block printing and woven works from India, while on the other hand there were woodworks, Pakistani truck painting, and Ecuadorian beadwork, to name just a few.
The Market has been providing a wonderful platform for the folk artists around the world to show their beautiful works to the people, share their experience and skills with visitors and artists from other parts of the world and thus enrich others and be enriched in the process. The Market has become a global confluence of the folk artists and the people from various ethnicities, communities, and nationalities.
More than 23,000 people visited the Market this year. There was huge interest in the folk art for sale among the visitors which translated into large sales for almost all the artists. Items from Kandahar, Afghanistan in traditional needle embroidery called Khamak sold like hotcakes. On average each artist was able to sell goods worth over $15,000 within two days– a great incentive for artists particularly from the developing and under-developed world. Total sales for the weekend reached $1.95 million!
