A Pilgrimage to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

If I were to go anywhere in the world as a pilgrimage, my choice would be the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. I can't think of another place that would be a Mecca of all my interests in culture, people and the wonderful things they make. Sure, there are many other folk art festivals that would be interesting, but this has to top them all! Every year I hope I can go and so far I haven't been able to afford the trip. You see, it's not only going there and experiencing the environment that would thrill me, but I also would want to buy, buy, buy!!!! Someday it will happen!

Meanwhile, you go. Go be my eyes and ears and report back about how much fun it was! Tell us all about the wonderful people you met and what treasures you bought. The Market will be loaded with all of the ingredients to make anyone clap with joy, dance with delight and participate to their heart's content. There will 140 artists present representing 41 countries! You can travel the world just by walking around! Workshops, ethnic foods, live music and cultural presentations combine to make this a world event in one of the most interesting cities of the world.

Here is a video from last year's market:



My biggest joy would be to interact with the artists and see them at work. The International Folk Art Market's website has a full listing of those who are scheduled to come with a bio of their work. I picked a sampling just to give you an idea of the wonderful diversity of both regions represented and the work they produce, although I have to admit that even though I love all craft forms, I do tend to gravitate towards the textiles. The photos and text belong to the Santa Fe International Folk Art's site and I am quoting a partial bio just to entice you over to their site. Click on the Artist's name to see their full page.

Hugo Yucra Quispe Paricela and Rosa Ticaona Vilca

Peru

Artisan Committee of Centro Poblano de Chijnaya

Chijnaya Foundation

Embroidery

The Andean village of Chijnaya was born after a flood in 1963 devastated villages near Lake Titicaca. As part of the resettlement project, and through the influence of Peace Corps volunteers, the concept of having the children embroider scenes of daily life took hold. What emerged were “bordados” employing hand-dyed alpaca yarn embroideries soon captured world attention and on a ground of “bayeta” or hand-woven simple weave woolen cloth.

Hind El-Arabi

The Palestinian Territories

Sulafa Embroidery Shop/project of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

Embroidery

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency runs a self-supporting embroidery program which employs over 500 refugee women in the Gaza Strip to produce articles to sell at the Sulafa Embroidery Shop, helping preserve valuable traditions and increasing family incomes.

Moussa Albaka

Niger

Silver and Gemstone Jewelry

Moussa Albaka is from Niger, Africa, and as a metal-smith he designs gorgeous jewelry using sterling silver, Tuareg silver and semi-precious stones. His techniques include engraving intricate geometric designs, using decorative inlay, and a lost wax process.

Nino Kipshidze

Georgia

Georgian Textile Group

Embroidered, Woven and Felted
Textiles and Objects

Nino Kipshidze, founder and president of The Georgian Textile Group (GTG), has been involved in crafts since her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. GTG is an association of artists, designers, researchers, art historians, and ethnographers working to revive and improve the quality of Georgian folk textile art and craft and to support artisans works and by creating an international market for their work.

José Francisco Borges

Brazil

Tesoros Trading Company

Woodblock Prints and Chapbooks

José Borges, one of Latin America’s most celebrated folk artists, wields his knife and piece of wood in his humble workshop, attracting collectors and curators from around the world. Considered an unlettered folk poet, Jose has more than 200 cordel, or chapbook, titles to his name and is still writing.

Yuzhen Pan

China

Minority People Textile Folk Artists Cooperative of Southwest China

Weaving, Embroidery and Batik

Yuzhen’s family continues to farm in Guizhou while she lives part time in Beijing working in an embroidery workshop and selling Miao textile items at an open air market.

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As you can see, each artist comes with a story, a life-line that connects them to their region. It will surely be fascinating for anyone who can make it to the festival. But, I also think this is such a profoundly valuable opportunity for all of the participating artists. I have worked in multi-cultural groups for many years and remember how disturbing it was to me that each group has its own set of biases, misconceptions and stereotypes that can lead to racism and narrow-mindedness. This is not only about white people learning about the world and "helping" through their dollars, but instead, contact and interaction opens all people to a larger world filled with new opportunities. We all have the need to both give and receive, to teach and to learn, to share and to grow and this makes the world a safer, healthier and more dynamic place to live.

If you make it to the Market, please report back here and tell us how it went! Or, if you like to write, I would love to have your experiences documented in a post. Take lots of photos and share them with us! Someday I will make my pilgrimage, but until then, enjoy yours!

Visit the Santa Fé Convention and Visitors Bureau for travel info.

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A Pilgrimage to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

For the Love of Indigo: Miao Tradition in Blue

Contemporary Miao Batik Indigo Cloth, $30

If you had to pick one main background color to show off all the other colors in the rainbow, what would it be? The Miao have picked indigo, and I have to agree with them: the deep blue enhances and compliments all of their rich textile traditions perfectly. Many other cultures have used indigo dyes around the world for centuries. But, while this labor intensive technique slowly dies out in many places, the Miao continue to use it today, still preferring the old ways to commercial alternatives available on the market.

Miao Indigo Cotton Cloths on Etsy
I just listed a few Miao indigo batik and tie-dyed cloths on Etsy. Click on the photos to take you to the listings. If these have been sold, search the store as I try to keep them in stock. (I also often carry embroidered Miao textile remnants. Search the store using the keyword, "Miao") These cloths use traditional techniques, but are contemporary pieces aimed at export for the Western market. Intended as tablecloths, they are perfect center pieces for quilts. The soft cloth and their designs lend themselves to easy quilting.

Miao Indigo Tie-dyed Cloth with Embroidered Accents, $30

The Miao tend to live in remote mountain areas with limited agricultural use, thus making a living through their textile productions has become their main form of sustenance. Their traditional techniques involve batik or tie-dye, a long process, using indigo and other natural dyes, then layers of applique and embroidery. These cloths are a simplified version of what they would make for themselves, allowing us to enjoy their beauty at an affordable price. As the Miao become more savvy about the value of their work, their costumes increasingly command higher prices, allowing many of them to access better health care, education, and other resources.

Who are the Miao?

Miao Woman from Peace on Earth

Gina Corrigan has written a couple of books on the Miao living in Guizhou Province, China, home to the largest concentration of Miao.

Books mentioned in this article:

In Miao Textiles from China, she describes how the Miao, the largest ethnic minority in China, are thought to have arrived into Guizhou as migrants from the Yellow River basin around 5,000 years ago. Their history has been fraught with persecution by the Han majority, poverty, discrimination, and migration, including flight into Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. (The Hmong are ethnically Miao, retaining similar textile traditions and oral history.) The Miao are divided into four main dialect groups and many subgroups, dialects so different that they often cannot understand each other. Yet, their textiles are their common language and indigo the color of cultural coherence.

Indigo wreaths and butterflies.

Indigo Central to Miao Cultural Expression
Of indigo, Corrigan has much to say, starting with:
"The most common dye in Guizhou is vegetable indigo, usually made by women, which is used on all base fabrics. ... In September the leaves are collected and soaked in barrels of water for anything from four days to two weeks, depending on the ambient temperature. Once fermented, the leaves are taken out and lime is beaten in to introduce oxygen. After several days, the indigo pigment precipitates to the bottom. The water is then drained off and the dark blue indigo paste scooped out into baskets lined with leaves. If sealed, this can be kept all winter, and some families make indigo paste to sell at market.
Domestic dyeing is also usually done by the women, who reconstitute the indigo paste with ash and water in a wooden dye vat, found in most Miao households. Rice wine is added to encourage fermentation, which gradually reduces oxygen in the vat. The dyer tastes the vat every morning to see if it is right for dyeing. Both hand-woven and bought fabrics are dyed, normally in the warmer months of September and October. They are dipped and aired many times to build up the dark blue colour, sometimes for as long as twenty-four days." (pages 13,14)

David Newbegin has a wonderful collection of photos he took in Guizhou, not necessarily about the Miao. Many are of people in their daily tasks and routines or dance performances while others show the gorgeous landscape of the region. I encourage you to visit his collection, but here are some of his photos with Newbegin's captions specifically related to indigo dyeing:

A Dong lady dyeing cloth, which the Zhaoxing villagers weave themselves, with indigo solution. The cloth is dipped and aired many times to build up the darker colour.

Various shades of indigo dyed cloth being aired along the river frontage in the Dong village of Zhaoxing in Guizhou Province. The cloth is dyed many times to produce a darker blue colour. Also rice straw ash and pigs blood is added to the indigo solution to produce a black or brown colour.

Miao lady in Biasha (Basha) village in Guizhou Province applying the finishing touches to another dress. The women wearing pleated skirts with white insets are married.

My little source book for Chinese crafts, Arts and Crafts of China (pictured in the Amazon slide show above), offers a bit more technical information on the art of dyeing indigo:
"Today, it remains almost exclusively the minority peoples who preserve the traditions of planting and cultivation to assure a steady supply of natural vegetable dyes. The ubiquitous lancao (indigo) in widespread use throughout China is especially popular among China's sourthern minority peoples, such as the Miao and Buoyei. Although synthetic indigo has been used in China since the early twentieth century, natural indigo remains the preferred choice among many minorities.
Mordant dyes are especially popular for the rich, permanent colours produced when bonding occurs between the fibre and dye compounds. This may result from soluble matter being released naturally by the plant during boiling, as is the case with tannic acid released during the boiling of sumac or gall nuts, or from the addition of special mordant substances in the preliminary or post-dyeing baths. The most common chinese mordants are alum and potash, which are obtained by boiling hemp or rice straw. Their use in varying amounts allows a broader range of tonalities to develop amont textiles submerged in the same dye." (page 15)

I found a video on YouTube that shows some of the dyeing process:

Miao ethnic people dyeing cloth with indigo colouring - 2007

When I think about it, I realize that I, too, pretty much live in indigo.... blue jeans, my daily wear, the older the better! Maybe that is why I am so attracted to the Miao language of blue, or maybe it is simply because it is so beautifully rendered.

Miao Indigo Butterfly Batik

For the Love of Indigo: Miao Tradition in Blue