Stella recently visited Santa Fe’s annual International Folk Art Market.

Staged on Museum Hill every July, it’s an impressive endeavor involving more than 100 artists from around the world, 1,000 volunteers and 20,000 visitors.  Each booth averages sales of $16,000, which for many of the artists from developing countries might be the majority of their annual income.  Artists retain 93% of the sales revenue and the gross revenue for the market is approximately $2 million.

Artists such as Micheé Ramil Remy from Haiti:

Beyond enjoying the delightful onslaught of colors, shapes, and textures, it was reassuring that humans all over the world are united by the same desire to tell stories of life and death, to beautify inanimate objects, and express spiritual beliefs.

There is the broad depiction of every day life.

I always light candles with my watermelons.

Then there are the exceptional and significant events.  I was really struck by the piece below depicting the terrible flooding seen in southern Africa in the last few years.

The market was full of beautiful functional objects.

We saw lots of people.

And fabulous storytelling.

And last but not least, our animal friends.