Mixed Media Folk art from the Judith Espinar and Tom Dillenberg collection

There are certain well-curated homes, especially in the Southwest, that perfectly capture the funky, just-add-one-more-thing aesthetic of folk art. Utilizing ceramics, wood carvings, tin work, fiber arts, and religious iconography, large- and small-scale collectors turn their fireplace mantles into altars and their windowsills into colorful displays of clay plates.

Judith Espinar and her ex-husband, Tom Dillenberg, have such a collection in Espinar’s Santa Fe home that they have chosen to donate to the Museum of International Folk Art. Espinar, who has been collecting folk art since her time in the Peace Corps in the 1960s, co-founded the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market in 1994. In celebration of the gift to MOIFA, the museum opens the exhibition A Gathering of Voices: Folk Art from the Judith Espinar and Tom Dillenberg Collection with a free public reception from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16, at the Museum of International Folk Art (706 Camino Lejo).

In museumgoers see the pieces from the collection in a manner that replicates the way Espinar displays folk art in her own home, in arrangements of vignettes, photographs, and videos. Among the vignettes is which holds a variety of New Mexican santos, most of which Espinar purchased over the last 25 years at Spanish Market in Santa Fe, as well as Espinar’s favorite collection, an assortment of dolls from different cultures, including from Sicily, France, and Peru. The Indian Day Bed features Bolivian textiles of varying patterns and colors, and The Hearth showcases a number of wood and clay saints, crosses, and metal candle sconces. Attractions and activities at the public reception for include live jazz music by the Cyrus Campbell Group and candle-holder-making with ceramic artists. The exhibition is on view at MOIFA through Aug. 25, 2019. For more information, go to internationalfolkart.org. — Jennifer Levin