culture vultures

In spite of a busy schedule I drove down to Santa Fe yesterday to meet up with Connecticut friends who were visiting for a few days. They referred to themselves as "culture vultures" and so after lunch we all trooped over to Museum Hill and went to the International Folk Art Museum (they'd already been to every museum and art gallery in Santa Fe). What a great place it is! The collection is mind-bogglingly extensive. They were also having a textile show and, of course, I was drawn to it -  particularly the Norwegian nalbinding mittens and mitts.

According to "A History of Hand Knitting" by Richard Rutt (whose research and conclusions have sometimes been questioned), nalbinding preceded today's knitting with two needles and is described as "a looped fabric using an eyed needle loaded with a relatively short length of yarn." It started either in the mid-east or Norway. Hmm.

I loved this Mexican 1820 sampler made with linen and silk. It was quite large and this is merely a corner.

Also intriguing is a large collection of Victorian dollhouses beautifully displayed. I couldn't resist photographing a couple (there are hand made lace curtains in the upstairs windows of the two matching houses). By the way, the museum encourages visitors to take photos. Nice, eh?

Everything displayed in the museum is hand made and there are surprises around every corner. It is a friendly and playful place. From retablos and ex votos, sugar skulls, a dolls tea party, depictions of heaven and hell and war, castles and legends, farmers' markets, masks...so much to see. There was a small girl there with her grandparents and we kept hearing her say, "oh my god!" as she encountered yet another surprise. The collections come from all over the world and it's a joy to see how imagination manifests itself in craft and tradition.

Nobody sees it happening, but the architecture of our time
Is becoming the architecture of the next time.
                                          Mark Strand (from The Next Time)