Current Exhibits

Quilts of Southwest China

July 9, 2017 - January 21, 2018

Chinese quilts have received little attention from scholars, collectors, or museums.  The examples featured here offer an introduction based on new research by a bi-national consortium of American and Chinese museums, including participation by the Museum of International Folk Art.  Embodying layers of history, identity, and expertise, these quilts reveal new insights into the contemporary lives of minority communities adapting to a period of great change in China.

Negotiate, Navigate, Innovate: Strategies Folk Artists Use in Today's Global Marketplace

in the Mark Naylor & Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience
June 4, 2017 - July 16, 2018

The  Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience is an experimental gallery inside the Museum of International Folk Art where the public is invited to help shape the content and form of the exhibition in real tme.

No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art

March 12, 2017 - September 16, 2018

Tramp art is the product of industry, a style of woodworking from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that made use of discarded cigar boxes and fruit crates that were notched and layered to make a variety of domestic objects.

Lloyd's Treasure Chest

January 29, 2017 - December 29, 2017

Folk Art is a treasure, and Lloyd's Treasure Chest offers a participatory gallery experience highlighting the Museum's permanent collection of over 136,000 objects of international folk art from over 100 countries, representing thousands of unique cultures. Because the entire collection can never be on view at the same time, collections are carefully stored and cared for in rooms such as our Neutrogena Vault, which visitors can view from the Treasure Chest gallery.

FLAMENCO: From Spain to New Mexico

In the Hispanic Heritage Wing
November 22, 2015 - September 10, 2017

Passionate, fiery, sensual, intense In-depth examination of the history and culture of flamenco dance and music.

The Museum of International Folk Art presents Flamenco: From Spain to New Mexico, the most comprehensive exhibition to celebrate and study this living tradition as an art form. The exhibition opened November 22, 2015 and runs through September 10, 2017.  More than 150 objects are featured. Among them, items once used by renowned artists Encarnación López y Júlvez “La Argentinita”, José Greco, and Vicente Romero and María Benítez (both from New Mexico). In addition to other stunning loans from private collectors will be those from the museum’s expansive permanent collection.

Multiple Visions: A Common Bond

Longterm
On long-term display

"I believe we should preserve this evidence of the past, not as a pattern for sentimental imitation, but as nourishment for the creative spirit of the present."

- Alexander Girard