This year's figures are not in yet, but the Market sales for last year were $2.3 million, 90% of which the artists took home. Though not originally intended as a development project, the Market has impacted the lives of the artists and their villages and cooperatives by creating a sustainable market for their wares, often in developing countries and regions where there has been no other way to make a living.
Artists' work is juried to participate but participation is not limited only to selling artworks. Invited artists also receive training in marketing, booth display, pricing, and how to tell their own stories. They may also meet and develop relationships with wholesale buyers to expand their markets. The success stories are amazing.
For example, Ralli Quilts represents a cooperative of women from a small village in the Thar Desert region of Pakistan. The quilts they sell at the Market may represent their entire income for the year. According to Tricia Stoddard, their personal angel, "The women in the co-op decided to use their profits to hire a teacher and start an elementary school in their small, remote community - the Santa Fe Desert School. The women are making their own choices with their business."
Tricia brought Ralli quilts to share with our Folk Art Extravaganza group. (Last year we were able to meet one of the artists and her husband, Naina and Surendar. The first time Naina ever left her village was to get her visa and the second time was to get on an airplane.) The quilts are completely hand made by women sitting on the ground on woven mats from fabric that has been dyed and cut. They are reminiscent of Amish quilts, as the designs are geometric and of solid colors.
Our group was also visited by the family of Augustin Cruz Tinoco, from Mexico, who make hand-carved and hand-painted fanciful wooden figures. They demonstrated their processes and we were amazed to discover how much the work was the result of family collaboration. (Typically the men carved the wood and then the women paint them.)
To prepare for the Market, our group first visited the Museum of International Folk Art and then began a number of hands-on projects related to the work they would see at the Market: personal quilt squares, retablos, weavings, and cut-paper. We worked in an open studio fashion, and participants could work on their projects throughout our time there.
Our seminar is not limited to art teachers or other educators; anyone interested in folk art is invited to join us, but teachers will certainly have meaningful experiences they can take back to their classrooms.
Our goal is to help our participants interact with people of different cultures in way they could possibly never do as a casual visitor. I also cannot imagine a better opportunity to make interdisciplinary connections than through folk art. (On Sunday, children can get free "passports" and visit the different booths to get flag stamps of each country.)
Where else could you go where you could personally meet and talk to so many artists from so many countries in one weekend? Where else could you collect photographs, personal stories, and folk art to take back to your classroom or school?
Our seminar is particularly guided by several statements in the National Standards for the Visual Arts:
"Through examination of their own work and that of other people, times, and places, students learn to unravel the essence of artwork and to appraise its purpose and value. Through these efforts, students begin to understand the meaning and impact of the visual world in which they live."
and
"Study of historical and cultural contexts gives students insights into the role played by the visual arts in human achievement. As they consider examples of visual art works within historical contexts, students gain a deeper appreciation of their own values, of the values of other people, and the connection of the visual arts to universal human needs, values, and beliefs. They understand that the art of a culture is influenced by aesthetic ideas as well as by social, political, economic, and other factors. Through these efforts, students develop an understanding of the meaning and import of the visual world in which they live.
Our seminar includes interactions with artists, museum visits, lesson plans, open studio, some meals, professional education credit. and a trip around the world in a weekend (and we stay at the beautiful Inn of the Governors.) We hope you will consider joining us next year. The dates are July 10-16, 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment