MOIFA | FEBRUARY 2024

The Museum will be celebrating the opening of Staff Picks: Favorites from the Collection on Friday, February 23 for members and MOIFA donors.

To attend the evening donor reception, please click here to register.

There will also be a public opening on Sunday, February 25 with a performance of the Academy for the Classics & Technology String Band with refreshments by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico. Educational outreach programs and public events continue throughout the next several months, including the museum’s annual Lunar New Year Celebration on February 4.

 

Opening of Staff Picks: Favorites from the Collection

Staff Picks will feature a diverse selection of objects selected by members of the MOIFA staff. This is the first exhibition in honor of MOIFA’s 70th year that presents cherished work chosen by its dedicated staff.

The selections highlight the breadth of the museum’s collection and presents perspectives of staff through their favorite works. The museum collection has grown to over 162,000 objects, representing more than 100 countries since its founding in 1953. Staff made their selections by touring museum storage, researching work in the collection, picking pieces from previous exhibitions, or choosing from a specific geographic area.

 The exhibition will showcase 70 works of art from 26 countries selected by 35 members of MOIFA’s full-time staff along with representatives from each of MOIFA’s two supporting foundations (Museum of New Mexico Foundation and International Folk Art Foundation) in the Bartlett Gallery from February 25 to August 18, 2024.

 

Lunar New Year Celebration

The museum celebrated the Year of the Dragon and Asian New Year at the Museum this past weekend. Visitors enjoyed art activities for all ages, a parade by The Quang Minh Temple Lion Dance Group, and a performance of traditional Japanese drumming by Santa Fe Wadaiko.

 

Educational Outreach Programs

In December, the museum collaborated with the Southside Library on their Winter Open House including a closing reception for the installation of the much-loved alebrije which had been on display at the library for the past nine months, and sponsored by MOIFA. Educators also participated in the annual Step Up (service and creativity) International Baccalaureate event at Mandela International Magnet School. In addition, the education staff distributed 500 recycled piñata Folk Art to Go art kits to Abiquiu Elementary School, San Juan Elementary School, Las Cruces Elementary & Middle Schools, Moving Arts Española, Kha’p’o Community School / Santa Clara Pueblo, Elementary & Middle Schools in Las Cruces, Alas de Agua Art Collective, Santa Fe, and Vital Spaces, Art Closet, Santa Fe. They also distributed 75 Folk Art to Go kits on the theme of grief and loss to families in Northern New Mexico in collaboration with Gerard’s House. Kemely Gomez, the museum’s bilingual educator, continues each month to conduct mothers’ support groups at Gerard’s House.

They conducted virtual classroom visits through the DCA Invites an Educator program to Capitan Elementary School in New Mexico and to Caliber Public School in California on the topic of dolls.

Through April, the Museum is conducting a partnership with 3rd and 4th grade classes at Cochiti Elementary to coincide with the Ghhúunayúkata/To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka. As part of this partnership, an Alaska Native storyteller will visit the school and present a storytelling program, followed by students taking a field trip to the Museum to see the exhibition in person. The students will also be able to participate in doll making and other hands-on classroom activities.

 

For more information on upcoming museum events, including Friends of Folk Art programs, please click here.

To sign up to receive the museum’s new monthly e-newsletter, click here.

To support MOIFA’s Exhibition Development Fund and/or Education Fund please contact Laura Sullivan at laura@museumfoundation.org or by phone at 505.216.0829.