Why You Need To Be In Santa Fe This July

Santa Fe summers are synonymous with the City Different’s wonderful and well-established cultural art markets. With its famed Indian Market, esteemed Traditional Spanish Market, and exciting International Folk Art Market, you could make an entire season of it.

The International Folk Art Market

First up — and extra special this year — is the International Folk Art Market, the largest of its kind in the world. Celebrates its 20 anniversary July 11 – 14, the market welcomes 167 artists from 51 countries to the three-day festival in its new home at the popular Railyard Park. With robust festivities planned around the anniversary, it’s a cultural trip around the world through handmade art. 

“We are thrilled to highlight artists who have been with us since the beginning in our Legacy Tent, as well as showcase the way artists are creatively evolving folk art in our Innovation Tent,” says IFAM executive director Stacey Edgar.

Shoppers at IFAM 2019 (PHOTOGRAPHY: © Gabriella Marks/Photography for IFAM).

3 Artists To Know At This Year’s Market

Woven gaban, natural dyes (PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of the artist).

Artist: Ignacio Netzahualcoyotl Nava (first time to market)
Country: Mexico
Category/Medium: Textiles/Apparel
What to Shop For: Sumptuous woven one-of-a-kind apparel.

Ignacio, a Nahua Indigenous textile artisan from Contla de Juan Cuamatzi in Tlaxcala, Mexico, began weaving at a young age, learning the craft in the textile workshop built by his family. He is dedicated to preserving traditional dyeing and weaving techniques unique to the Indigenous people of Tlaxcala. A master artist, Ignacio has become a textile teacher, passing down his skills to a community of weavers and ensuring the continuation of this tradition for generations.

Artist Moussa Albaka artist demonstration (PHOTOGRAPHY: © Gabriella Marks/Photography for IFAM).

Artist: Moussa Albaka (legacy artist, meaning they joined the market during the first four years (2004 – 2008) and continue to return and exhibit
Country: Niger
Category/medium: Jewelry
What to shop for: Clean, contemporary statement jewelry that is very versatile.

Moussa Albaka is a Tuareg tribesman from Niger, West Africa. For many generations, his family, who are of the Inadan class, has been involved in silversmithing, as well as camel caravan trading throughout the Sahara. He and the men in his family are highly skilled producers of Tuareg jewelry. Moussa’s creations include necklaces and amulets, bracelets, earrings, buckles, daggers, and locks, all handmade of 95 percent silver. He uses the lost-wax process, along with decoration techniques including engraving, repoussé, and inlay with semiprecious stones, metals, and ebony. Many of the designs are traditional, but Moussa has long been creating more modern pieces in his unique style.

Marie Alexandrine Rasoanantenaina basketry (PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of the artist).

Artist: Marie Alexandrine Rasoanantenaina/Tahiana Creation
Country: Madagascar
Category/medium: Basketry/ Weavings
What to shop for: Sustainable fiber baskets made of vetiver, an aromatic medicinal plant with many uses.

Tahiana Creation has been producing a range of natural fiber products. Tahiana’s founder, Marie Alexandrine Rasoanantenaina, started out by selling handmade clothing door-to-door in the 1980s. Within a few years, she was able to hire additional women to help with sewing and embroidery. As Rasoanantenaina’s business grew, she began to experiment with alternative dyes and materials, tapping into Madagascar’s abundant natural resources. The island of Madagascar is beloved, of course, for exports like pepper and vanilla, but it is also home to hundreds of unique forms of plant life, which lend themselves beautifully as sources for a variety of creative uses. By 1992, Tahiana Creation was availing itself of these indigenous resources, creating natural hues from materials like bark and fruit pits.

If You Go

Santa Fe brims with all sorts of events during its summer markets. If you can make it to the International Folk Art Market, be sure to enhance your itinerary with some of these happenings.

Where: SITE Santa Fe
What: ETERNAL PRESENT, The 2024 IFAM Speaker Series, Twenty Years of Folk Art Excellence
When: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 14
More info: Reserve your seats when you purchase a ticket at folkartmarket.org/tickets.