The Folk Art Flea Needs You! The ever-popular Folk Art Flea is back again this year and will take place on Saturday, May 6 at the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds at 3229 Rodeo Road (next to the Genoveva Chavez Community Center) from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. The Friends of Folk Art (FOFA) is accepting personal donations of gently used art items for resale. Donations are tax deductible.  Popular items include folk, tribal and fine art, decorative art, clothing with an ethnic or folk art look and art books. Your art donations make a difference. Since its inception, the Flea has raised over $750,000 to benefit MOIFA programs and exhibitions. To donate folk art call (505) 476-1201 to arrange a pick-up of your items or drop off your donations at MOIFA (behind the Museum on Camino Lejo) on the following Saturdays: April 1, 15, and 22 from 11 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.   Become a Sponsor We invite you to become one of our cherished sponsors of Folk Art Flea 2023. You can make a difference by making a contribution at any level. All sponsorships are fully tax-deductible and will be recognized on signage onsite and sponsors who contribute $500 or more will be invited to a special, private reception and receive entry to Priority Shopping on the afternoon of Friday, May 5. Also, FOFA members have the special benefit of Early Bird Shopping on Saturday, May 6, from 9 – 10 a.m. before the doors open to the public. Want to volunteer? Volunteering for the FOFA Folk Art Flea is a fun way to contribute to MOIFA and its educational programs and exhibitions.  Please join other folk art lovers for this annual weekend event and other volunteer opportunities by registering here or emailing Ellen Premack at epremack@gmail.com. Student Artwork at MOIFA ArtWorks and the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) are proud to present the ArtWorks Student Showcase from April 12 through May 1 with an opening reception on Friday, April 14 from 4 – 6 p.m. The artwork in this exhibition is a culmination of student work created as part of a three-part workshop series based on a visit to MOIFA’s La Cartoneria Mexicana: The Mexican Art of Paper and Paste exhibition. Every year ArtWorks partners with Santa Fe museums and performing arts venues to bring world-class works of art into public school classrooms. This year ArtWorks’ partnership with MOIFA included 22 three-part workshops in Santa Fe Public School classrooms, bringing over 400 SFPS students to experience MOIFA’s La Cartoneria Mexicana exhibition.   MOIFA mounted a showcase of student artwork and hosted a reception last month for the parents and teachers of the students at El Camino Real Academy (ECRA) that was also inspired by the museum’s newest exhibition, La Cartoneria Mexicana. Over 68 family members and students attended the event. The student showcase was on view through March 30. This program was funded through the generosity of MOIFA donors which helps sustain important school partnerships like this one. A partnership with Mandela International Magnet School will take place April 5 through April 28 with Taos Pueblo pottery artist, Brandon Adriano Ortiz. There will be a student showcase opening reception in the museum’s atrium on May 4 from 5 – 6:30 p.m. and the showcase will extend through May 17. This program is generously funded by the Patricia Arscott La Farge Foundation for Folk Art. Family Programs at Folk Art Family Mornings at Folk Art is a free program geared towards families and young children. The museum, since its founding in 1953, has always been accommodating to visitors of all ages, encouraging parents and their children to experience folk art in hands-on and accessible ways. The program continues each month on a Sunday morning from 11 a.m. – noon and features story time, an art activity and explorations in the galleries. Click here for more information.   In addition to Family Programs, the museum also presents its popular Make & Take @ MOIFA. These programs are free with museum admission and take place in the Atrium on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with art projects, coloring sheets, and self-guided treasure hunts. Programs encourage explorations in the museum with fun collection-inspired bilingual art kits, facilitated by museum docents. The projects are always changing with changing gallery treasure hunts for the whole family. Upcoming dates and topics include the following: April 23 – Make a Memory/Story Cloth April 30 – Make a Memory/Story Cloth   For more information about Make & Take @ MOIFA, please 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.     Photo captions (top to bottom): Left: Jo Ann Ward, FOFA Board Member, photo by Laurie Vander Velde. Right: Photo by David Margolis. Left: Laurie & Michael Vander Velde, long-time Flea supporters, photo by Frank Chambers. Right: Photo by Jo Ann Ward. Student artwork at El Camino Real Academy Showcase in the museum atrium. Dawn Kaufmann at Family Mornings at Folk Art.

Thank you to all who joined us on Saturday, March 18 for the public opening of With the Grain. The event was vibrant and well attended, and members enjoyed a preview of the new exhibition, followed by music by Lone Piñon and a conversation led by Christian Waguespack who was joined by artist Luis Barela in the gallery. With The Grain explores the dialogue between artists and their materials at play in the work of modern and contemporary Hispanic carvers in Northern New Mexico at the intersection of materials, form, practice, and place. It traces the relationship between wood carvers in Northern New Mexico and the distinctive way in which the aesthetics of their work was, and continues to be, informed by a relationship with their material and through a privileging of the natural qualities of the wood they worked with. This practice often allows the natural forms of unfinished pieces of wood to guide the composition of their piece, thus fostering a dialogue between artist and material that informed the finished product. To support current and upcoming exhibition programs, contact Kristin Graham at kristin@museumfoundation.org or call 505.216.1199. Construction Update, Vladem Contemporary Construction at the Vladem Contemporary is proceeding apace. The building is close to being sealed with much of the glass in place. The AFC panels are being installed along the upper level and should take four weeks to complete, which is one of the few remaining features of the façade yet to be completed. The building now has permanent power and will soon have permanent gas, water, and sewer. With permanent power in place, assembly of both elevators can continue, and finishing work on the grand staircase is proceeding. Finishing work on interior spaces is underway across the building. We look forward to continued progress and opening our doors soon. If you would like to visit the site or join us for a hard hat tour, please email Kristin Graham, kristin@museumfoundation.org.

REVENUE General Membership continues to exceed our expectations as we continue to be more than $85,000 ahead of expectations. At time of publication, we had received $645,000 in membership dues for the fiscal year. In addition to our renewal income, we will also begin our upgrade appeals to members. This spring we are offering special Vladem Contemporary-inspired limited-time benefits, such as a Vladem Contemporary membership card design, Milestone Member designation, a gift from the shop at the Vladem Contemporary, and an invitation to the Members-only Preview and Grand opening celebration. Plus, when members step up to the Patron level or higher they will receive a complimentary inscribed brick which will be permanently installed in the Vladem Contemporary courtyard. Learn more here: https://www.museumfoundation.org/step-up   EVENTS Our next member event will be a Member Day exhibition preview of Enchantorama! New Mexico Magazine Celebrates 100 Years on Friday, April 14 at the New Mexico History Museum. Learn more about the exhibition here. https://www.nmhistorymuseum.org/exhibition/details/5363/enchantorama-new-mexico-magazine-celebrates-100-years We have at least on member event planned for each month through August, so be on the lookout for your invitations.   COMMUNICATIONS We hope you already subscribe to our Member E-News, but if you don’t, it’s a great way to learn about upcoming news, events and exhibitions. Sign up here: https://www.museumfoundation.org/e-news-sign-up/ Another great way to stay in-the-know is to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We post daily so give us a like and a follow. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/museumfoundation Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/museumfoundation/   TECHNOLOGY As many of you know we offer digital membership cards. We hope you have yours installed on your phone. If you’d like a digital membership card sent to you, please email us at membership@museumfoundation.org. Brittny Wood our membership manager just launched an automation with our digital card provider Cusuem. Any time a membership is added or renewed in our database, an email containing a member’s digital card is automatically sent.  

Elizabeth and James Roghair Make a Tax Wise Decision and Support MOIFA Did you know that if you are over 70 ½, you can transfer up to $100,000 from your IRA directly to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and avoid paying tax on that income? Elizabeth and James Roghair, long-time Foundation members, have made a generous gift from their IRAs to support the upcoming Ghhúunayúkata / To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka at the Museum of International Folk Art opening on May 21. Their gift not satisfies the required minimum distribution, but also gives them the satisfaction of knowing they are supporting a cause that is near and dear to them. James and Elizabeth Roghair moved to Santa Fe in 2010 just in time for the 400th anniversary of the City.  They rapidly became involved in the city’s museums and cultural institutions.  Elizabeth had headed the planned giving programs at several Chicago area non-profits and James had retired from a long career as a pastor in places as far flung as Newark, New Jersey and Barrow (Utqiaġvik) Alaska. As a gift planning professional, Elizabeth had learned to take maximum advantage of evolving opportunities to make tax-efficient gifts to non-profits through Individual Retirement Accounts.  “During your working career you try to save as much as you can pre-tax – often getting your savings matched by your employer,” she explains.  “These accounts grow tax-free until the day comes when you have to start withdrawing and paying income tax on what you have saved, according to an IRS formula. The way we look at it, our IRA’s are like mini-foundations. As soon as the law passed in 2006, that allowed us to avoid income tax on those withdrawals by having our IRA custodian send them as gifts to our favorite charities, we made it an annual practice to do a large part of our charitable giving directly from our IRA’s.”  Each year, they include one or two special projects on their charitable gift list.  These have ranged from medical research projects to sponsorship of concerts (Elizabeth sings in the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus), 50th college reunion scholarships, and sprucing up the campuses of their favorite cultural institutions. “We get the most joy from our contributions when they are tied to our own life experiences and passions,” says Elizabeth. In 2022, Elizabeth and Jim learned about an upcoming exhibition of Alaska parkas at the Museum of International Folk Art.  Parkas were very familiar to Jim’s family because they had lived on the North Slope of Alaska for over eight years where parkas with large fur-lined hoods were essential everyday clothing.  Would the Roghairs be willing to become sponsors of the museum’s Parka exhibit?  The answer was “Yes, we would be proud to share our Arctic Alaska connection with New Mexicans and other museum visitors.” The tie to Alaska was a close one.  In the summer of 1987 James Roghair, and his late wife Willa, packed up two hundred boxes of their personal and household goods and shipped them from a Post Office near Newark, New Jersey to Barrow, Alaska (now known by its Iñupiaq name Utqiaġvik). They had been called to serve as co-pastors of the Utqiaġvik Presbyterian Church. Their sons, 13-year old Nicholas and 11-year-old David, knew it was to be an adventure. The family had visited a large L. L. Bean store and purchased a supply of cold weather gear in preparation.  But from their first week on the Arctic coast, they knew something else would be required.  The cold, windy Fourth of July felt like snow as people celebrated on the Arctic Ocean beach. Everyone else was wearing an Alaskan parka! As winter set in they realized the traditional native parka with its fur ruff kept the face warm in a way L. L. Bean couldn’t match. Jim obtained a handmade parka for daily use, with a wolf ruff, a velvet outer coat and a quilted lining.  But with the need to travel to North Slope villages in a small airplane, he was glad to also become the owner of a “40-below-zero” parka with a Mouton (sheepskin) lining, and a corduroy shell. “It could make one sweat while shoveling snow at 40 or 50 below zero,” remembers Jim.  Eight years later, Willa died, and the boys had gone off to college.  Jim and Elizabeth (both widowed around the same time) were married and did not spend another winter in Utqiaġvik, rather making their home in Evanston, Illinois. Jim’s sons consider Utqiaġvik to be their home town and have returned there to live and work, David as the State Superior Court judge, and Nick as a Librarian in the Tuzzy Library of IlỊisaġvik College, a tribal college which is also part of North Slope Borough. “Our Alaska connections remain strong, and it is delightful to be able to make sponsorship of this exhibition a focus of our latest IRA gifts” says Elizabeth with a smile.   Making a Gift from your IRA is Simple To make a gift from your IRA, simply contact the financial institution that holds your IRA and provide them with information to make a direct transfer from the IRA to the Foundation. You may designate your gift to support one of the cultural institutions in the Museum of New Mexico system or the Foundation directly. The distribution counts toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) and you pay no tax on the distribution and the museum and/or the foundation benefits from your generosity. The new Legacy IRA Act also allows you to take up to $50,000 of your RMD and establish a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, saving on taxes and providing you guaranteed income for life. Contact Laura Sullivan, Director of Leadership Giving/Legacy Society, at laura@museumfoundation.org or call 505.216.0829 for more information or to discuss ways to make a planned gift to the Foundation.   Photo captions (Top to bottom):  Bobby Lynn Brower (Iñupiaq), Atigi (parka) with isigvikpagaaq (sunshine ruff), 2020, Utqiagvik, Alaska, velveteen, wolf fur, wolverine fur, sea otter fur, ric rac, metal zipper. Museum of International Folk Art, IFAF Collection, museum purchase, FA.2022.16.1. Photo: Yves Brower, modeled by Hayleigh Nanook.   Fancy parka, Yup’ik maker, c. 1890, Arctic ground squirrel fur, wolverine fur, wolf fur, hide, wool. Museum of International Folk Art, IFAF Collection, gift of Louis Criss, FA.1974.42.1. Photo: Addison Doty.