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By Dr. Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi Every time I see a sea otter pelt, I instinctively want to run my hands across it. The sea otter is arguably the warmest fur-bearing animal on our planet, one used historically in Alaskan communities to keep us warm.
By Rachel Preston More than one of New Mexico’s great stories starts with a broken wheel… and the account of the Museum of International Folk Art is one of them. Its founder, Florence Dibell Bartlett, got her first taste of New Mexico’s quaint and cordial village life—a style of living perhaps the polar opposite to that of the wealthy hardware heiress and world traveler in 1920’s Chicago—while awaiting a wagon tire repair in Santa Cruz, and she was hooked.
![A woman wearing traditional clothing stands outside a wooden structure, holding a small child dressed warmly; both face the camera in a rural setting. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Gakti_09-400x225.jpg)
By Laurann Gilbertson At its most basic level, clothing provides warmth and protection from the elements. But clothing is so much more. It can be beautiful and valuable. It can express our emotions and beliefs.
![A painted wooden panel depicts a traditional boat carrying figures in Japanese attire across stylized waves, with mountains and Japanese script in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shrinefeatured-400x225.jpg)
By Elizabeth Lillehoj A colorful painting on a wooden tablet in the Museum of International Folk Art features the Japanese legend of Empress Jingū. Painted in 1862, the Jingū votive tablet looks back to Japan’s premodern interactions with its neighbor, Korea.
![A museum display case with colorful graphic art, a framed photograph, a red brick panel, and decorative objects on wooden flooring. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Worlds_Girard-Treasure-Chest07-400x225.jpg)
BY DAVE HERNDON In the fifties and sixties, Alexander Girard’s status as both a Modernist designer and a prolific consumer of folk art might have seemed hopelessly irreconcilable. After all, what could Mad Men-era commercial design possibly have in common with, say, clay totems or weavings produced in the Peruvian highlands, Mexican pueblos, or remote villages of India or Poland?
![Electric guitar with custom artwork depicting a winged woman in a purple dress and a red devil-like figure on the body near the bridge and pickups. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Edit_FA.2018.68-alternate-view-400x225.jpg)
BY NICOLASA CHÁVEZ Música Buena: Hispano Folk Music of New Mexico, at the Museum of International Folk Art from October 6, 2019, to March 7, 2021, tells the history of New Mexican Hispano folk music (and related dramatic interpretations) that developed over four hundred years, from the Colonial era to the present day.
![A person kneels on a display platform arranging miniature figurines and buildings in a brightly lit museum with colorful folk art exhibits. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/LoveLittle_GIRARD_REST_06_kl-400x225.jpg)
BY LAURA ADDISON / PHOTOGRAPHS BY KITTY LEAKEN For thirty-seven years, Multiple Visions: A Common Bond has drawn international visitors and attention to the Museum of International Folk Art. This unique installation of some 10,000 toys and folk art objects from Alexander Girard's own collection, designed and installed by Girard himself, was a labor of love and a testament to this modern-design master’s attention to the global handmade.
![A sunken red seating area with patterned cushions is surrounded by potted flowers, a gold table, bookshelves, a grand piano, and modern decor in a spacious living room. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/05_Girard_DesignersUniverse_high_edit-400x225.jpg)
BY LAURA ADDISON In a 1953 letter to friends back in Michigan, designer Alexander Girard enumerated what appealed to him about Santa Fe, his new hometown. Tellingly, his description engaged all the senses.
![A woman with a scarf smiles while holding a Siamese cat close to her face in front of a wooden wall. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/OKeeffe-cat_012049_cmyk-400x225.jpg)
BY KATE NELSON In the Museum of International Folk Art, curator Laura Addison opens a nondescript flat file among aisles of others in the collections vault. From it, she pulls a delicately rendered watercolor by one of the most remarkable artists of the twentieth century.
![A grid of colorful, square labels featuring various stylized sun faces and geometric sun designs, each labeled “RESTAURANT SOL” and numbered sequentially. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/suns-400x225.png)
BY JESS MULLALY Alexander Girard might be thought of as the man at the beginning of the rainbow. As collectors, designer Alexander Girard and his wife Susan amassed over 100,000 folk art objects.
