Empowering Women:
Artisan Cooperatives
That Transform Communities»
July 4, 2010 to May 8, 2011

The inaugural exhibition in the Gallery of Conscience is devoted to the examination of issues that threaten the survival of the traditional arts, bringing them to the attention of our visitors." All of the cooperatives featured in the exhibit participated in the 2010 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market». Exhibition highlights include weaving, beadwork, painting, baskets, embroidery and other traditional folk arts from Bolivia, Rwanda, Peru, Swaziland, India, Kenya, Laos, South Africa, Morocco and Nepal. Travel information»



A Century of Masters: The NEA National Heritage Fellows of New Mexico
July 19, 2009- January 30, 2011

Each year, the National Endowment for the Arts» honors folk artists, storytellers, performers, and musicians throughout the United States for their contributions to traditional art forms. The National Heritage Fellows demonstrate artistic excellence and a commitment to their art forms through their processes, techniques, and transmission of the knowledge to others that strengthens and enriches their communities. New Mexico residents are well-represented in this distinguished group of talented artists, especially given the size of the state's population. Lesson Plan/Art activities»

Material World:
Textiles & Dress From the Collection
December 20, 2009-
August 7, 2011

Material World presents a tantalizing glimpse into the Museum of International Folk Art's largest collection of textiles and costumes stored in 57 closets and numerous trunks and drawers. The 138 rarely-seen items in this exhibition highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of 20,000 objects ranging from everyday household articles to elaborately detailed ceremonial wear in the Museum's textile collection. Lesson plan/art activities»

Gee's Bend Quilts and Beyond:
Louisiana Bendolph, Mary Lee Bendolph,
Thornton Dial & Lonnie Holley»
Bartlett Wing, November 16, 2007 to May 11, 2008
This exhibition takes an in-depth look at the creative vision of a master quilt-maker, Mary Lee Bendolph, and the intersecting artistic worlds in which she participates. This exhibit examines Bendolph's inspiration and creative process as well as her profound connection to the cultural practices and expressive traditions from which her work arises. Twelve dramatically designed, richly colored, improvisational quilts created by Mary Lee Bendolph and her family members; her mother Aolar Mosely, her daughter, Essie B. Pettway, and her daughter-in-law Louisiana P. Bendolph, are presented alongside complex and evocative found object sculptures by noted African American self-taught artists Thornton Dial and visionary "yard art" artist Lonnie Holley. Intaglio prints by Mary Lee Bendolph and her daughter-in-law Louisiana P. Bendolph, (Photo above: Mary Lee Bendolph in front of the intaglio print "To Honor Mr. Dial") Textile Resources | NM Fiber Arts Trails|2004 Quilts|Lesson Plan

A Saint in the City:
Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal. Bartlett Wing from June 28, 2007 to September 30, 2007.
The first exhibition devoted to contemporary arts of Islamic Africa, and to the life of an African Saint. Developed by the Fowler Museum at UCLA», as Passport to Paradise, the traveling exhibition coveys the ongoing creative spirit and artistic vitality of Africa today. The exhibition presents a striking range of 20th and 21st century art forms associated with the Mouride movement, a Sufi sect in Senegal with a rapidly expanding diaspora throughout the world, especially in American cities.

Village of Painters: Narrative Scrolls from West Bengal
Bartlett Wing
October 29, 2006 to
April 29, 2007
The patuas» of West Bengal, India, have a long and contested social history in the region. Traditionally, they wandered from village to village singing their own compositions while unrolling painted scrolls on themes divided into three genres: religious songs, social commentary, and personal experience narratives. The exhibit shows a wide range of scrolls and examines how the patuas are keeping their art alive in today's changing world of West Bengal. The exhibition opened October 29, 2006 and closed April 29, 2007; was curated by Dr. Frank J. Korom, and accompanied by an exhibition catalog».

Power Dressing:
Men's Fashion & Prestige in Africa»
A traveling exhibition organized by the Newark Museum», Newark, New Jersey that was on display in Santa Fe from December 16 2006 through February 18 2007. The Museum of International Folk Art was the only venue west of the Mississippi. Power Dressing
brings together over forty outstanding examples of male attire from the throughout the continent and spanning a period from the 19th century to the present-day.

Dream On Beds From Asia To Europe» exhibition to examine boutis quilting, felt and other textile traditions highlighted in the exhibition; design your own dream bed». Whether people sleep on coarse woven mats or under luxurious embroidered silk sheets, sleeping is a common human experience expressed through diverse cultural traditions. On display in the Neutrogena Wing from December 16, 2005 through October 1, 2006



Arte y Amistad (Art and Friendship): Selections from the Diane and Sandy Besser Collection of Contemporary Hispanic Art »
A promised gift to the Museum of International Folk Art, the exhibition highlights the relationship between artists and collectors, and issues in contemporary Hispanic Arts through the works of twelve New Mexican artists. Although Sandy & Diane Besser collected many things--Art & Antiques magazine named the couple as one of the top 100 collectors in the US in 2002-- their carefully selected works of contemporary Hispanic art stand out as one of the most intriguing, vibrant, aesthetic, political and passionate groupings in their home. The exhibition opened March 12, 2004 and closed September 4, 2005.

Vernacular Visionaries: International Outsider Art in Context
On exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art from October 21, 2003 through August 7, 2004.

Some people consider "outsider or raw art" to be a glimpse at the artist's interior and private world. The term also refers to the art of marginalized people on the fringe of society and is commonly used to describe the art of those unschooled artists who live and work at a distance from prevailing artistic trends and styles. Annie Carlano, Curator of European and North American Collections at the Museum of International Folk Art and a team of international scholars brought together five twentieth center visionary artists whose work is steeped in culture and profound spiritual context. They are: Gedewon, Martín Ramírez, Hung Tung, Anna Zemánková and Carlo.