2 January 2025
Another slow morning, waking to a chilly room and a hot cup of coffee. The Inn is quiet as we walk across to breakfast. Kitchen will cook to order. Times like this, I wish I enjoyed something other than yogurt in the mornings. Logs burning in the fireplace, hot coffee, decisions how to enjoy our day.
There are several museums located along the Turquoise Trail south of Santa Fe. While some remain closed for the season, Museum Hill, just a couple miles from our Inn, opens for visitors today. Located there, just off Old Santa Fe Trail, sits one of the most interesting museums in the state of New Mexico.
Museum of International Folk Art
This museum opened to the public in 1953 and quickly gained national and international recognition as home to the world’s largest collection of folk art from around the world. Its collections are varied and rotate throughout the year.
“Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa” displays the artistic crafts of a unique group of weavers. Instead of wool or yarn, they weave with colorful wire. Their works are amazing. What started as a crude use of available telephone wire found in scrap heaps has turned into fine art. South African artists travel here to display their works and teach others their craft.
“Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy” rehumanizes those incarcerated through a display of their artworks, interviews, and demonstrations. It explores human rights, recidivism, oppression, rehabilitation, and community empowerment. While most artists featured in the exhibition have been incarcerated in New Mexico’s prisons, the collection also includes work by imprisoned artists from other states and countries. Much of the art one sees in this exhibition is the result of using what materials are available, from cigarette packaging to string and cloth.
Paño art represents a form of prison art created by incarcerated Chicanos in the United States. “Paño” means “cloth” or “handkerchief” in Spanish. This private form of expression involves drawing on handkerchiefs or other fabric.
“Amidst Cries from the Rubble” explores the heart of Ukraine’s struggle. Specifically, it presents over sixty powerful works, including large-scale photographs and objects gathered from war-torn landscapes and communities across Ukraine. In doing so, this thought-provoking display chronicles Ukraine’s harrowing journey through the daily realities of death and destruction. Moreover, it highlights how Ukrainians transform remnants of war—such as shell casings, missile fragments, and ammunition boxes—into remarkable creations of human resilience and creativity.
Additionally, the exhibition features striking black and white photos of statues and beloved art works wrapped in coverings by residents in order to protect them from the destruction of bombing, illustrating a whole new level of art. Wrappings are reminiscent of the French artist Cristo, but these are wrapped out of necessity not art.
Located in the Hispanic Heritage Wing is “La Cartoneria Mexicana/The Mexican Art of Paper and Paste.” Mexican cartonería expresses human imagination, emotion, and tradition using the simple materials of paper and paste to create a diverse array of subjects such as piñatas, dolls, Day of the Dead skeletons, and fantasy animals called alebrijes. The exhibition showcases more than 100 historic sculptures.
Alexander Girard
In 1962, Girard and his wife established the Girard Foundation in Santa Fe to manage their art collection that numbered over 100,000 pieces, including toys, dolls, icons, and other ethnic expressions. Girard’s passion for folk art heavily influenced his design work. In 1978, Girard contributed his immense collection to this museum. The Girard Wing houses his extensive collection, which showcases folk art, popular art, toys and textiles from more than 100 nations.
The permanent exhibit, “Multiple Visions: A Common Bond” was conceived by Alexander Girard, renowned for his design work with companies like Braniff Airways, John Deere, and the La Fonda del Sol restaurant in Manhattan’s Time-Life building. The expansive hall features a maze of collections, miniatures, and eclectic groupings of what nots.
Cafe Break
There is a pleasant cafe on Museum Hill. After wandering Girard’s collections, we pause for refreshments. The views over the desert are as enjoyable as the food. We then walk across the large patio to another fine museum.
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture houses a vast collection of over 80,000 objects and 10 million artifacts from 12,000 archaeological sites, showcasing the history and contemporary life of Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and other Southwest indigenous cultures. Its permanent exhibit, Here, Now and Always, combines Native voices, artifacts, and multimedia to tell complex regional stories. Highlights include the Buchsbaum Gallery of Pueblo pottery, five rotating galleries featuring topics from archaeology to contemporary art, and an outdoor sculpture garden with Native American works.
“Driving the Market” highlights award-winning artists and works from prestigious Native art markets, including those hosted by Southwestern Association of Indian Arts in Santa Fe, the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix. These popular markets showcase diverse contemporary Native art, offering opportunities to meet artists and purchase their works. Beyond commerce, they serve as cultural gatherings that foster collaboration, innovation, and community among artists.
The annual Santa Fe Indian Market attracts an estimated 150,000 people to the city. The market features around 1,000 Native American artists from over 200 tribal communities in North America and Canada. The event takes place on the weekend following the third Thursday in August.
“Painted by Hand: The Textiles of Patricia Michaels” presents a stunning display of painted silk. Transitioning seamlessly from traditional art forms to haute couture, Patricia Michaels, a renowned fashion designer from New Mexico, brings her creations to life with inspiration drawn from her Native American heritage, the Taos Pueblo, and the natural beauty of the region. Furthermore, her distinctive educational journey—shaped by the guidance of elders and a her connection to the environment—has instilled in her a deep respect for meticulous craftsmanship and cultural storytelling. (Michaels dressed the actress Tantoo Cardinal for the 2023 Cannes premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon.)
“Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles” features over 30 historical and contemporary weavings, just a small portion of its vast collection. The exhibit includes materials, tools, digital prints, photographs, and immersive media, offering a comprehensive look at Diné (Navajo) textile traditions.
Diné apparel design has evolved through history, shaped by events such as the introduction of Churro sheep by Spanish colonists in the 1500s, which led to the development of Navajo-Churro wool ideal for weaving. By the 1800s, Diné women were creating wool blankets and garments, but after the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo and forced assimilation, and American capitalism, they transitioned to using commercial fabrics. As non-Natives began collecting their textiles, Diné weavers also created designs for displaying on walls.
Diné weaving reflect Diné aesthetics and beliefs. While today, one appreciates these works through the lens of art and design, one must not overlook their cultural meanings. The Navajo language has no word for “art,” but Diné style is distinct and joined to balance, beauty, and harmony. This is demonstrated through symmetrical geometric design, light and dark color, and the continuance of the traditional practice through generations.
Many weavers and tribal origins are recognized by name, but many displays of textiles and weaving were attributed to “Artist once known.” It was an appropriate nod to the long tradition of Diné weavers.
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