MOIFA News:
SANTA FE — The Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) has announced Carla Gilfillan as its 2026 Summer Research Fellow.
Carla Gilfillan is an M.A. student in Art History in the Department of Art at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Her research centers on the visual and material cultures of the U.S. Southwest, particularly New Mexico during the territorial period into early statehood. In her work, she focuses on local epistemologies and community memory in Native and Hispano cultural production. Guided by decolonial methodologies, Gilfillan examines how objects function as sites of political resistance and cultural continuity.
Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Gilfillan has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for more than a decade. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of New Mexico in May 2025, where her undergraduate research focused on Pueblo ceramics and painting. In 2024, she began formal training in the New Mexico tinwork tradition through classes taught by Richard Gabriel Jr. at Santa Fe Community College. Her current research on nineteenth-century tinwork in New Mexico integrates archival study with community perspectives and practice-based knowledge, positioning material expertise and local engagement as central to historical and cultural analysis.
“Carla Gilfillan’s research exemplifies the kind of impactful scholarship we aim to support through our Summer Research Fellowship,” said Charlie Lockwood, Executive Director of MOIFA. “Her work foregrounds local knowledge, material practice, and community engagement in ways that align deeply with our mission to foster understanding and celebrate diverse artistic traditions. We look forward to supporting her as she further develops this important research.”
The MOIFA Summer Research Fellowship program, made possible by the generous support of the International Folk Art Foundation and a gift from Susan and Steven Goldstein. The fellowship provides an honorarium, travel and housing support, and access to the museum’s extensive collections, library holdings, and archives. Fellows are encouraged to contribute to ongoing dialogue surrounding folk art, folklore, and museum studies through a public presentation at MOIFA at the conclusion of the fellowship period, as well as through potential publications drawn from their research.
About the Museum of International Folk Art
The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of the Board of Regents for the Museum of New Mexico System. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the International Folk Art Foundation, Museum of New Mexico Foundation, and Friends of Folk Art. The mission of The Museum of International Folk Art is to shape a humane world by connecting people through creative expression and artistic traditions. The museum holds the largest collection of international folk art in the world, numbering more than 163,000 objects from more than 160 countries.