Folklore in Santa Fe offers art and tea aimed at soothing the soul
Published
Modified
Just a few blocks from Canyon Road in Santa Fe is an art gallery and lifestyle shop called Folklore, where visitors can 鈥渞eally slow down, get present and experience beauty and healing,鈥� according to owner Kelly Dye.
鈥淚 opened Folklore in November of 2019, which was just a couple months before COVID started. So, it was a wild time to start a business,鈥� Dye said.
Dye had developed an interest in artisan-made crafts and sustainable design while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design in New York City. After graduating, she spent time traveling and exploring global craft traditions.
鈥淢y original vision for Folklore was to source from artisan groups around the world, but when COVID hit and travel was so restricted, that vision shifted to being more focused on local makers,鈥� Dye said.
Looking back, she sees it as a blessing in disguise.
鈥淭hat was the biggest gift and really the thing I should have been doing all along, because people coming to visit Santa Fe want to shop and purchase and support Santa Fe-made things,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are so many amazing makers in New Mexico, and it was really cool to get to know the community.鈥�
Although Folklore began as a lifestyle shop, the focus has increasingly shifted toward visual art.
Folklore鈥檚 current exhibition, 鈥淒esire Lines鈥� by Emelie Richardson, consists of handwoven beige and indigo-colored tapestries that blur the line between craft traditions and abstract painting. The exhibition runs through Aug. 11.
Richardson has been part of Folklore from the very beginning.
鈥淲hen I opened Folklore in 2019, I had Emelie鈥檚 weavings on the walls. She was the first artist I featured, and it was the first time she鈥檇 ever had her work up in a public space,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淗er weavings always sold really well. I would commission three or four at a time, sell them, and then commission three or four more.鈥�
鈥淓melie is really close to my heart, just because we started on this journey together almost six years ago, and I have witnessed her career grow,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淭his is her second solo show with us. We did her first solo show last summer. I鈥檓 really proud of her, and I think it鈥檚 been neat to be on a parallel path in our evolution and grow together.鈥�
Two years ago, Dye opened a second Folklore location in Laguna Beach, California.
鈥淏ut I didn鈥檛 want to do a lifestyle shop,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淚 decided I wanted to open an art gallery instead.鈥�
She realized that several of the textile artists she was already working with would suit the new gallery.
鈥淢y first show in Laguna Beach was a textile art show, and I featured Emelie, along with a couple other textile artists from New Mexico,鈥� Dye said.
Dye has since transformed Folklore鈥檚 Santa Fe location into more of an art gallery, in line with the California space, although she still sells jewelry, tea and other small items and gifts.
鈥淚 feel like because we always had Emelie鈥檚 weavings on the wall when we were a lifestyle shop, her aesthetic became interwoven with our identity aesthetically. For me, she has served as the foundation of what we鈥檝e grown into,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淓ven now that I represent 16 artists, including a bunch of textile artists, but also painters and ceramics artists and other mediums 鈥� plus 11 jewelry designers 鈥� I always come back to Emelie. She鈥檚 really foundational to our aesthetic.鈥�
Dye highlighted several other local textile artists, including the Santa Fe-based Italian American artist Alysha Colangeli, who works with layered botanical imagery and natural materials. Folklore鈥檚 next exhibition will be a solo show by Briana DeVoe White, who is known for her floral paintings and wallpapers.
鈥淎t the moment, I really love natural pigment and earth pigment painting,鈥� Dye said.
Dye explained that she naturally gravitates toward soothing colors and textures, which contributes to Folklore鈥檚 unique ambiance.
鈥淓very piece that I show 鈥� everything I have in the gallery 鈥� are things that I would personally want to live with. And I think of my home is kind of like a sanctuary. It鈥檚 a place of rest and retreat and a place to go to be centered,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淪o, I tend to gravitate, primarily, toward natural materials and calming palettes. What you see reflected in the folklore is what I personally like from my life.鈥�
In the back of the gallery is a tearoom with low benches and meditation cushions.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been really into different healing modalities and spiritual traditions,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淪o, we went through several iterations of having different healing art practitioners in residence.鈥�
鈥淲hen I made the shift to the gallery, that coincided for me with a really deep interest in tea. So, I decided to clarify and refine that element of what we were doing. So, instead of having a bunch of different practitioners, I just went all-in on the tea,鈥� Dye said.
鈥淪o, now we have the back room set up for the tea ceremony,鈥� Dye continued. 鈥淲e sell a bunch of really beautiful, aged ceremonial Chinese teas, and have some very senior teachers come regularly to teach workshops.鈥�
One of the tea masters who has served tea at Folklore multiple times is a Taoist-influenced practitioner who goes by the mononym Po.
鈥淧o鈥檚 approach to tea is that it鈥檚 vibrational medicine. He鈥檚 very into tuning into the energy of the tea, practicing mindfulness, and just noticing how it feels,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 a very individual experience, rather than being focused on the choreography or like how some people do tea ceremonies in silence 鈥� which is also a beautiful experience. But what makes Po special is his more energetic, vibrational approach.鈥�
In addition to their master workshops, Folklore offers a community tea every Saturday morning, from 8:30-10 a.m., which is donation based.
鈥淲e have around 10 servers who volunteer to come and share tea in a variety of ways, from different traditions,鈥� Dye said.
One of Folklore鈥檚 mainstays is its contemporary jewelry selection, which focuses on local emerging designers.
鈥淲e have such amazing jewelry talent in New Mexico, and Santa Fe specifically, so I felt when I moved here that there was an opportunity to showcase some of these designers. And it felt like no one else was really highlighting the work of younger designers,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not kind of like the big turquoise cuffs that you see around. It鈥檚 definitely more contemporary. It鈥檚 more minimal, refined and delicate than what I was seeing anywhere else in town.鈥�
Dye said that many people who come through the doors at Folklore tell her they feel a calming, healing energy.
鈥淚 never know how to respond other than to say that I appreciate that feedback,鈥� Dye said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been very sensitive energetically, and I have a deep spiritual practice myself. So, I feel like the way that I curate, and even the people I work with, help contribute to that energy. Everybody that I show, I love as a person. So, just from that standpoint, the people creating the art have great energy.鈥�
