Addison Nace
MIFA News:
SANTA FE – Addison Nace, a Ph.D. candidate in Design Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been selected as the 2025 Museum of International Folk Art Summer Research Fellow. Nace will work with local artists and researchers to showcase the ways in which folk art traditions, particularly textiles, explore broader economic practices while respecting and protecting Indigenous knowledge systems.
Nace’s research focuses on textile history, sustainable design, decolonial museum practices, and the protection of Indigenous knowledge through craft. As part of her six-week fellowship at MOIFA this summer, she will explore strategies for preserving Mayan textile traditions in Zinacantán, Mexico, and Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, while examining their role in economic development.
In 2023, Nace received the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship to investigate these topics. She has a strong track record of exhibitions, including her award-winning 2022 exhibition, Uncut Attire: How Weaving Informs Wearables, which earned the Costume Society of America’s Richard Martin Exhibition Award. Nace is originally from Santa Fe, NM, and holds a BA in Anthropology and Spanish from Antioch College.
“Addison Nace’s research exemplifies the kind of impactful scholarship that we aim to support through our inaugural Summer Research Fellowship,” said Charlie Lockwood, Executive Director of MOIFA. “Her work on preserving Indigenous knowledge through textiles, while respecting cultural boundaries, aligns perfectly with our mission to foster understanding and celebrate diverse artistic traditions. We look forward to supporting her as she further explores this important work.”
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, is a two-year pilot initiative that provides a fellow with an honorarium, travel and housing allowance and access to the museum’s vast collections, library holdings, and archives. Fellows are encouraged to contribute to the ongoing dialogue surrounding folk art, folklore, and museum studies through a public presentation held at MOIFA at the end of the fellowship period and with potential publications that draw on fellowship project 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. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the International Folk Art Foundation and Museum of New Mexico Foundation. 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 100 countries. Learn more at moifa.org.