MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART

Hidden Gem

From the Library

In 1938, Illinois art collector and philanthropist Clara Viola Hoover joined the International School of Art’s summer program in Central Europe. She brought with her an electric typewriter and a 16mm camera, with which she shot a mix of black-and-white and Kodachrome film. Many years later, she recorded audio narrating the parades and festivals she captured, describing the many finely crafted peasant costumes she encountered.

Although Hoover’s framing of these rural European cultures is old-fashioned, the film is a valuable visual record of a time and place before the sweeping changes brought about by World War II. Hoover donated the film to the Museum of International Folk Art in 1981. The gift was rediscovered in 2018 and restored and digitized thanks to a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Lynn Godfrey Brown Shop

Honoring a Devoted Donor

Many visitors to Museum Hill make the Museum of International Folk Art their first stop. They then make a beeline to the museum’s gift shop—colorful and chockablock with collectible folk art.

Lynn Godfrey Brown loves them both. “The folk art museum is especially close to my heart because of the years I’ve spent working with folk artists,” she says.

In recognition of Brown’s recent $100,000 gift to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s newly established Alexander Girard Wing Endowment Fund, the shop has been named the Lynn Godfrey Brown Shop. The fund was created to support annual programming for the wing as well as the care and protection of the collection.

Brown moved to Santa Fe in 1989. She soon became involved with the Foundation as a trustee and supporter of the Museum Shops. Brown used her

Left to right: Shirley Pisacane, Lynn Godfrey Brown and Chris Yaeger at the Lynn Godfrey Brown Shop. Photo by Saro Calewarts.

collector’s eye to develop a section of the shops called “Collector’s Corner,” purchasing art directly from artists for resale.

“I was shopping at the Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago gift shows to find product to try out in our shops and see what would fly,” she recalls.

A self-described “grassroots person,” Brown’s particular passion for folk art took root as a child traveling with her father, a Pan American Airlines engineer, whose generous professional perks carried the family around the world. Brown remembers the day the family landed in Berlin, on August 13, 1961, the same day the Berlin Wall went up, temporarily sealing the family inside. After majoring in math at Antioch College, Brown’s travels took her further afield, around Africa, with Egypt and Ethiopia two favorite destinations, and Asia, with memorable trips to Java.

Like most tourists, Brown collected various mementos, but always the folk arts that represented the country she was visiting. While math had a professional hold on Brown, she describes her personal transition from “science to culture as my destiny.” She made it her mission to support artists from around the world.

When that destiny finally led Brown to Santa Fe, she became involved in various folk art initiatives. For example, she helped develop Mentor to Market, an artist education program, for the International Folk Art Market. Originally supported by the Kellogg Foundation and recognized by UNESCO, the program provides participating artists with tools and opportunities to grow their businesses.

Most recently, Brown worked with the folk art museum’s former executive director, Khristaan Villela, to support the Alexander Girard Wing Endowment Fund. With Brown’s gift, the endowment now totals $400,000. It’s a significant advance on a campaign that will be launched in December on the 40th anniversary of Girard’s permanent installation, Multiple Visions: A Common Bond.

Brown’s says her gift reflects her desire to honor and respect the art and cultures of the thousands of artists whose work is represented in Multiple Visions and throughout the museum.

“As a volunteer for decades, I have worked with hundreds of folk artists, and I have always felt that I was receiving more than I was giving,” she says. “The openness of these artists to share their culture, their artistic process, their aspirations and their art has been profound. For me, it has been an exhilarating and humbling journey. I feel very fortunate to be able to acknowledge these artists and those to come with my gift to the Museum of International Folk Art.”

For Teresa Curl, the Foundation’s vice president of retail operations, honoring Brown’s commitment to the world’s folk artists by renaming the gift shop makes perfect sense.

“Lynn has a long history of supporting the shop,” says Curl. “I cannot think of a better fit. We are honored to have her name over our store.”

To support exhibitions and public programs at the Museum of International Folk Art, contact Laura Sullivan at 505.216.0829 or Laura@museumfoundation.org.

Top right: Iron candle holders, on display at the Lynn Godfrey Brown Shop, are among various shop products related to the museum’s Dressing with Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia exhibition. Photo by Saro Calewarts.