The Spirited Folk Arts of Mexico

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Jane Sullivan      
Manager, Marketing and Communications 
(650) 821- 5131 
SF-11-45       
Jane.Sullivan@flysfo.com       

The Spirited Folk Arts of Mexico
From the Collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology

SAN FRANCISCO — Mexican folk art has a long and rich history.  For more than 3,000 years, the Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacán, Toltec, and Aztec ruled over the lands and peoples of what is now Mexico.  Craft production such as weaving, wood carving, and pottery flourished during this time.  Beginning in the 1500s, the Spanish significantly influenced Mexican culture during their 300-year reign, including many of the folk crafts produced and the technologies employed to make them.

The decades following the Mexican Revolution have often been described as Mexico’s renaissance.  During the 1930s and 1940s, intellectuals and artists, including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Miguel Covarrubias, and Nelson Rockefeller, began collecting and preserving Mexican folk art.

The Spirited Folk Arts of Mexico, from the collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, features a variety of Mexican folk art—from simple toys and miniatures to highly elaborate sculptural clay figures by famous ceramicists such as Josefina Aguilar and Teodora Blanco. Other objects on display include glass, musical instruments, masks, lacquerware, and carved gourds.

Images from the exhibition are available for download at: www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/about/press_images/exh-mexican_folk_art.html.

The Spirited Folk Arts of Mexico is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall, San Francisco International Airport. The exhibition is on view to all Airport visitors from June 10, 2011 to December 10, 2011.  There is no charge to view the exhibition.

SFO Museum

SFO Museum program was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public.  The Museum was granted initial accreditation from the American Association of Museums in 1999, reaccredited in 2005, and has the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport.  Today, SFO Museum features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation. For more information, please visit www.flysfo.com/museum.

S - F - O

About San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers non-stop links with more than 31 international points on 29 international carriers. The Bay Area's largest airport connects non-stop with more than 69 cities in the U.S. on 20 domestic airlines. For up-to-the-minute departure and arrival information, airport maps and details on shopping, dining, cultural exhibitions, ground transportation and more, visit www.flysfo.com. SFO was voted “North America’s Best Airport” in 2010 by passengers for its modern and efficient facilities and its multi-modal transportation systems.