The days of the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market can fly by, for volunteers, artists and staff alike, and it’s only after things have returned to ‘normal’ that we can reflect on the experience of those few days in July.

Here are extracts from messages artists and organizers sent us when they got back to Africa which show how much the 2010 Market meant to them.

First, notes from Nozipho Zulu, Development Officer at The African Art Centre in Durban, South Africa, who travelled to New Mexico with several South African artists:

“It was on our return to South Africa that we realised the extent to which the market was an extraordinary experience. We have never sold that amount of stock in three days; the ceramic pots, the wire baskets, embroidered textiles… We always had cheerful customers in our booths, never did we encounter an unfriendly customer, they were all smiling.

Flying out of South Africa was like a dream, they could not believe they were the chosen few out of a hundred applications.. Did I mention that we have receiving orders from customers who met us at the market? Jabu [Jabulile Nala] has received an invitation to exhibit her work in New York...That is amazing!!

The Women’s Colloquium and Market preparation workshop was worthwhile, we gained great knowledge which we will apply in our organisation.

It will be imposable to put into words the overwhelming experience we had at participating in the 2010 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
Thank you for making it possible for me and the South African artists to experience the market, I must say that while we were preparing for the market, it did not feel reality.

From myself Nozipho Philasande Zulu, Brenda Mkhize, Alfred Bongukufa Ntuli, Xolile Hazel Ndlovu, Jabulile Nala, Zodwa Maphumulo and Ntombifuthi Mwimule, we would like to express our sincere gratitude. Words alone are not enough to express our feeling and we have not forgotten that a group of good people from Santa Fe made it possible.  We have never seen anything like the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, this is a well organised event.

I have never seen 1500 volunteers who work so hard day and night in my whole entire life. I wonder how you do it.

Siyabonga .....!!! (Thank you in our Zulu Language)”

Next, this message from Nokwazi Mabila in Swaziland. Nokwazi represented Nurse Thembeni from the Phez’kwemkhono Bomake-Ncheka basket weaving cooperative, who couldn’t attend because of illness.
Nokwazi says:

“I am back in freezing Swaziland...I already miss the sunny days and warm nights of Santa Fe.

Last night I was thinking about the debrief session . . . we were asked what inspired us about the Market, and it occurred to me that had I spoken, this is what I would’ve said:

I am inspired by the organizers and volunteers who create a living space for artist expression. You enable us to come out of our cocoon and blossom, even if it’s just for one week. I thank you!

I am inspired by artists who live and thrive under difficult and seemingly impossible conditions, and yet still manage to create such beautiful artifacts. The Native Americans are right, ‘the hand is the tool of the soul.’

I am inspired by the guests who take the time to attend the Market and meet us, support our cause and take with them a piece of us. They give us strength to believe that our traditions are worth preserving.

I draw my inspiration from the dreamers of the Folk Art Market who thought their vision might work and the implementers who dared to become the agents of change. I salute you!”

If you’d like to share your experience of the Market with us (as an artist, visitor or volunteer), please , or post your reflections to our Facebook page.

Hello Market Supporters,

Wow! There is so much to say and to tell you now that the 2010 Market is over, but I thought I should at least share some highlights with you.

This year’s Market saw some wonderful new developments and great success “by the numbers” (these are preliminary figures and subject to change):

• Collectively, artist sales totaled over $2 million, a 7% increase over last year
• Attendance is estimated at nearly 25,000, a increase of 6.1%

This year, for the first time, we inaugurated “International Folk Arts Week” in collaboration with the Museum of International Folk Art and many businesses around town.

The week kicked-off with a July 4th opening of a new exhibition Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives that Transform Communities.  An exciting panel discussion that day gave voice to women cooperative leaders from places a diverse as Kenya, India and Peru.

The Museum ran some great hands-on education programs took place with kids from northern New Mexico and with the cooperative artists.  Janet Nkubana of Rwanda told me about one young girl who spent close to three hours learning how to make a basket and was very reluctant to leave when the program ended. They made a date to reconnect during the Market on Saturday….

Two-time Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof spoke on Wednesday evening to a sell-out crowd at the Lensic—a crowd that included some 80 women representing over forty cooperatives in the front rows of the house.  Kristof’s narratives focused on courageous women around the globe who faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles to their success—including human trafficking, kidnapping, poverty and a lack of educational opportunities.

Thursday night’s Community Meet & Greet with the Artists and concert on the Plaza by TradiSon, a fantastic 5 piece “son” band we brought direct from Havana—broke all attendance records for the Santa Fe Bandstand program.

The Friday night Market Opening Party was attended by over 1,500 eager buyers and partiers.  The Million Hearts for Haiti booth, all proceeds of which are going to Haitian artisan initiatives, was wildly successful—and by the end of the weekend had earned over $32,000. Overall, Friday night buyers spent close to $450,000—supporting artists all the way!

And not least of all, no rain!  Even Mother Nature gave us a break this year with perfect weather.

But as you know, it is the “heart” side of the Market, with an impact that is harder to measure, that creates the memories we all cherish.

The sight, for example, of an artist from Israel having dinner with one from Gaza, as they try to understand how to forge a peaceful future.

Or, knowing that the artists from Swaziland have filled their empty suitcases with shoes, clothes and toothbrushes collected by Santa Feans so that HIV/AIDS orphans in their remote village in Swaziland will be cared for.

Or, hearing “We Shall Overcome” sung in Gujurati by the women of SEWA, a cooperative in India…as they shared their experiences with their compatriots from around the world

All of us here at the Market send all of you our warmest thanks for your good thoughts, good cheer, your attendance, your donations--and, in the case of our truly fabulous volunteer corps, 1,600 strong, your great work.  Without Market supporters such as you, the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market would never happen.

Warm regards,

Charlene Cerny
Executive Director

P.S. A letter in yesterday’s New Mexican by Steve Conn said “the organizers and volunteers at the Santa Fe Folk Art Market deserve nothing less than a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Awww…we’re honored anyone even entertained such a thought!

(photos courtesy of Laura Chippeaux)

The artists have begun to arrive. . .

From Swaziland, Peru, the Sultanate of Oman, Kenya, Nepal, and more.

Artists from across the globe are on their way to the Folk Art Market. 

Don’t miss this unique experience!

Tickets for the Market are still available for purchase.

We hope to see you there, July 9-11! 

With the Market fast approaching, we’d like to get you in the mood with some great photographs from previous years’ Market.

Visitors from the last two years have been sharing their photographs on our Flickr Group, and there are some lovely images there. You can visit the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market’s Flickr Group here.

And of course, if you’re coming this year, we’d love to see your photographs added to the Group too.

Just a quick extra note: to illustrate this blog post we used one of the images from the pool, but got the photographer’s additional permission to post the photograph on this site (which wasn’t hard because it was me). We won’t use any images in the pool without express permission from the photographer. That said, some of the previous images have been so good that we have arranged with the photographer concerned to use them to promote the Market. So there’s a chance you’ll see an image of yours on the side of a bus, if that’s something you’d like.

- David Moore (I look after the Market’s website and contribute some of my photography, too).

UNESCO has been involved with the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market since its inaugural year in 2004 and was the first international agency to recognize the importance of the Market and its impact on the preservation and continuation of traditional arts.  This year, UNESCO’s Division of Cultural Expressions and Creative Industries is again providing funding for the Market to promote the Award of Excellence program at the 2010 Market.

The Award of Excellence for Handicrafts Program was established to encourage craft-workers to use traditional skills and materials to ensure the perpetuation of traditional knowledge and preserve cultural diversity, while promoting innovations to keep the products relevant and competitive.

By setting quality standards for handicrafts and raising international awareness, the Award program aims to strengthen the interest for these products, and helps place culture at the core of development. Capacity-building and promotional activities help artisans sustain a more viable livelihood and long-term employment.

The Market will help to promote the Award of Excellence program by involving and recognizing artisans who have received the Award from South Asia, Southeast Asia and West-Central Asia. 

New countries involved include China, Mongolia, and Korea.  Works including Chinese dolls (shown above) and embroideries, Korean kites, and Mongolian textiles, felted shoes and hats will be available at the Market.

Artists participating in the Market who have received the Award of Excellence in the past are listed on the UNESCO Award of Excellence page of our site here.  Be sure to visit their booths marked with a large yellow UNESCO Award of Excellence sign.

In addition, the United Nations has proclaimed 2010 the “International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures.” The Folk Art Market is featured in their calendar of events to support that effort.

We’re delighted to announce that the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market is featured in the current (July 2010) issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

Highlighting the work of seven women artisan groups, the article shows the beauty of their work, and outlines the beneficial impact these groups have on their communities.

Featuring great photographs and a compelling quote from Market Executive Director Charlene Cerny, the coverage is sure to raise awareness of the Market and the featured artisans.

You can read the O Magazine article here, or visit a special section of our website we’ve built to provide more information, including how to purchase directly from these artisans.

To launch their StreetSide 2010 exhibit, Santa Fe’s Patina Gallery is holding an opening reception that’s also a fundraiser for the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

The reception, one of the International Folk Arts Week events, will begin at 5pm on Thursday July 8th, to coincide with the Market’s opening event on the Plaza.

The StreetSide exhibit features travel-themed folk art from the collections of Peggy Gaustad and Stuart Ashman, Barbara and John Berkenfield, Julie Payne and Steve Luckman, and Maureen Russell. All the collectors will be attending the reception.

In addition, a percentage of all gallery sales at Patina from June 1 through July 30 will be donated to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market (be sure to mention the Market when you purchase).

Or you can support the Market by making an online purchase before August 1.

Julie Payne, who with Steve Luckman is contributing two pieces to the show including an ornately painted Pakistani truck, explains her love of folk art: ‘It is more visceral. In some places where there is great folk art, there is also great poverty and so artists must use the limited things that are available to them, to express their ideas. There is such an authenticity to the work.’

More information about the collectors’ and their work on show is available in the Patina Gallery press release here.

Patina Gallery, founded over 10 years ago by artists Allison and Ivan Barnett, exhibits more than 100 leading American and European artists working in clay, fiber, wood and studio jewelry. Patina is a World Sponsor of the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

> You can learn more about the full schedule of Folk Arts Week events here.

Maria Rengane is from the Tsonga tribe in Winterveldt, South Africa, and she works in the Mapula (Mother of Rain) Embroidery Project women’s cooperative.  The work of her cooperative will be featured in the Museum’s exhibition, Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities.

The cooperative started when Maria began teaching women to do embroidery work that they could sell and make some money.  She now has a group of 14 women with whom she works, and they receive no outside assistance.

Maria learned embroidery from her mother.  With fine technical and visual artistry, Maria embroiders cloths that express village life and women’s personal experiences.

Her work in the community was inspired by Nkosi Johnson, a South African boy who died in 2001 of AIDS at age 12.  He spoke strongly about the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS and addressed the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000.

Many people are suffering and dying from AIDS in Maria’s community, and Maria would like to see more efforts from those in power to fight the problem by providing cheaper medicine for the poor.

Asked if she would ever stop doing her embroidery work, Maria says, ‘Never! This is how I express myself. If I am sad I put it in my embroideries, if I am happy I put it in my embroideries.’
‘I would also like to spend my life helping communities to do things for themselves - that is how you build a strong successful nation’.

You can learn more about Maria here, and look forward to seeing her work at this year’s Market.

Entitled “Women’s Cooperatives for Economic and Social Empowerment,” over 35 cooperatives from 23 countries will be taking part.  This international gathering will serve as a forum for participants to share their experiences about issues such as preservation of cultural traditions in the face of the global marketplace, tackling social issues, and expanding market access for artisan products to work towards economic sustainability. 

Some presentations will take place on a narrated stage, with these dynamic cooperative women leaders as the presenters, in order for more peer-to-peer knowledge exchange to take place.

As part of the event, a number of community-based, women’s arts organizations from New Mexico including members from the Ramah Navajo Weavers Association, Tierra Wools, and Española Valley Fiber Arts Center will share their experiences and artwork in this cross-cultural exchange.

Rebecca Lolosoli, from the Umoja Uaso Women’s Group in Kenya (shown right) says, “My goal is to learn as much as possible about all these topics and how we all share similar problems and difficulties. I want to learn about how other women’s cooperatives function and how they market their work internationally.”

“I will share the story of how our group has managed to survive much abuse, sabotage and many physical dangers in order to stay together as a group in a culture that is patriarchal and in which women have few rights.”

The colloquium is funded in part by UNESCO’s Division of Cultural Expressions and Creative Industries.

Kakuben Jivan Ranmal, embroiderer of SEWA Trade Facilitation Center, photo courtesy of SEWA

The week kicks off with the inaugural exhibition in the Gallery of Conscience at the Museum of International Folk Art spotlighting women’s cooperatives participating in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. 

The Gallery of Conscience is a space at the Museum devoted to the examination of issues that threaten the survival of the traditional arts.

Marsha Bol, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art says, “We intend to address 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.”

The inaugural exhibition is titled Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities, guest curated by Suzanne K. Seriff, Ph.D., Chair of the Folk Art Market’s Artist Selection Committee.

Focusing on 10 cooperatives from across four continents that illustrate the power of grassroots collaborations of women artisans to transform women’s lives, the exhibit brings together first person quotes, photos and samples of the cooperatives’ handmade traditional arts.

The exhibition explores how women folk artists are working cooperatively to preserve and reinvigorate their traditional arts, generate livelihoods for their families, overcome domestic violence, and develop literacy programs for themselves and their children.

‘The exhibition starts with the beauty of the work, but provides more context on where the work comes from and the impact the women artisans have on their communities,’ says Suzanne Seriff. ‘It’s a chance for visitors to the Market to learn more about the artists they see there and see the effect of their purchases.’

All of the cooperatives featured in the exhibit are attending the Folk Art Market, and themes outlined in the exhibit are further explored in the other events during the week.

You can enjoy breakfast with the curators of different collections at the Museum of International Folk Art, or attend artist demonstrations and hands-on weaving and beading techniques.

Tuesday is highlighted by the Embera Masks of Panama opening reception presented by the Traveler’s Market 5:30-7:30 pm, which will include a lecture by long-time Market participant Shamlu Dudeja for “Kantha Embroidery of India”.  Refreshments will be served and door prizes include 2 tickets to the Friday night Folk Art Market Opening Party!

Wednesday evening offers a benefit event for the Folk Art Market: an evening with Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Thursday brings Street Side: An Exhibition of Travel Themed Folk Art at the Patina Gallery and the Folk Art Market Kick-Off Concert on the Santa Fe Plaza from 6-8:30pm.

And then the Market itself begins in earnest the next day, when it opens for shopping on Friday evening for the first time from 6:30-9:00 pm.

You can view the full International Folk Arts Week schedule here.