New Mexico Road Trip: Museum of International Folk Art, Part Two

As I said in my first post about Santa Fe's Museum of International Folk Art, it was the highlight of our week in New Mexico and the cause of both Denis and me wearing out our camera batteries. I took so many photos there that I've split my final choices into three separate posts. This is the second one which will take you from the main exhibition hall of the first post and into the Hispanic Heritage Wing for the Flamenco exhibit. My mother loved flamenco music, and I grew up listening to it on Mom's hi-fi. Thanks to Youtube, I'm listening to a wonderful flamenco guitar as I share these photos with you. Enjoy.

Wonderful carved doors leading to another section of the museum.

Native American art of the Pacific Northwest. Gorgeous!

When we entered the Hispanic Heritage wing, I was thrilled to see that most of the exhibit showcased wonderful needlework. Some of the work like the shawl in the photo below shone so brightly in the lights that it was only when you got up close and personal that you could see the stitching and the hours and hours of work it took with delicate materials like silk thread to make the shawl.  ¡Fantastico!

 

A Manila Shawl from China or Spain, 1900-1930

Detail of the shawl.

Bullfighter's Entrance Cape, Madrid, Spain, ca. 1955

Detail of the bullfighter's cape. ¡Ole!

Another section of the Hispanic Heritage Wing.

Detail of the stitching on the bullfighter's cape from the photo above.

Detail from the bullfighter's jacket.

Denis wearing out his camera battery.

Manila Shawl, China, 19th century

Detail of the shawl.

The Spirit of Flamenco by Roland van Loon, 2015

You can also see this painting in the photo I took of Denis, and that angle is the best because it seems to catch fire in that lighting. The artist really captured the heart of flamenco. 

Next week, I'll conclude my visit to the Museum of International Folk Art with a visit to the Tramp Art exhibit. See you then!

 

New Mexico Road Trip: the Museum of International Folk Art

~~~Part One~~~

As much as Denis and I enjoyed being outdoors and visiting places like Las Vegas and Taos, I think the Museum of International Folk Art on Museum Hill in Santa Fe was the highlight of our trip to New Mexico. 

The second I read about it having the largest collection of international folk art in the world, I knew I was going to enjoy my visit, but I wasn't so sure about Denis. I shouldn't have worried. Denis loved it, and we both almost wore out our cameras. 

Our visit is going to be broken up into three segments simply because of all the photos I took.  The sheer numbers of them that I'll be posting will probably shock you, but-- trust me-- there are at least two hundred that I'm not sharing! If you'd like to take a look at any of the photos in their original sizes so you can see more detail, just click on one of them. A new window will automatically open, and you'll be able to take a good look at them all.

I'm not going to do a lot of talking-- just a lot of showing-- so I'm only going to say one more thing before I get started. The largest exhibit space only had numbers by each item that corresponded to a spiral-bound book that had to be returned at the end of our visit; therefore, I can't tell you much about the art in the photos. It's a shame, but I think you'll find that many of them speak for themselves, especially if you look at the photos in their original sizes.

Other folks enjoying the museum.

So much work went into making these!

Detail of one of the panels.

This shone like a beacon in the spotlights.

Loved this vignette because of the couple in the upper right window.

With my love of Dia de los Muertos art, I loved exhibits like this!

Chinese folk art

Closeup of part of the Chinese folk art display.

There are days I think they'd throw me off this railroad car!

Handwoven rug depicting the Four Corners area.

My favorite diorama depicting a celebration in a pueblo.

Mothers & babies enjoying the sunshine & the celebration.

More people coming to the celebration.

Something close to my heart: a wall of hand-stitched samplers.

One of the samplers.

All the art on this church is wonderful!

A hand-woven rug from Russia.

Folk art from India.

Indian folk art.

More Indian folk art.

All right-- you can rest your eyes now! One of the things that kept going through my mind as I (very) slowly worked my way through the museum was the wall of samplers. I stitched a sampler of my own when I was eight years old. For generations the women of my family have had an affinity for needle arts. For example, I have a huge crocheted tablecloth made by my great-great-grandmother. I'll never have a table large enough to put it on, but I'm not about to get rid of it. Will some of my own needlepoint, some of my knitting, survive through the generations? It's doubtful... but nice to think about!

I hope you've enjoyed the tour through part of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Next Wednesday, I'll show you another gallery.