Folklore is a contemporary fine art gallery and space for gathering. We aim to tell the stories of artists who create from a place of deep connection with the earth, using natural materials and practices that are ancient and reverent.

Folklore is founded and directed by Kelly Dye, a curator and designer with a special interest in textile art and natural pigments.

Est. in 2019, Folklore’s flagship gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico is located in a territorial-style adobe nestled in the Historic Eastside neighborhood. Here you’ll find a rotation of small group and solo shows, a permanent collection of fine jewelry, a ceremonial tea room, and a gift shop highlighting local artisans.

Folklore Studio is a creative consultancy and exhibition space in Laguna Beach, California operated by Kelly Dye, open by appointment.

INFORMATION

Folklore owner, Kelly Dye is a curator and designer born and raised in Northern California. She currently splits her time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Laguna Beach, California.

Kelly’s visual point of view was shaped by formal art schooling and over a decade in New York City working for beauty and fashion brands. Her perspective was further honed by a meaningful chapter of creative exploration, spiritual practice, and global travels where she learned from artisans in India, Southeast Asia, and Mexico. Drawing from these experiences, Folklore was born in 2019. At the heart of Folklore is a love of craft and mythos. Kelly’s refined eye for Folklore's curation has been featured in Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, and several regional publications.

Connecting deeply with the places she resides, Kelly now finds inspiration closer to home: in painted desert skies, majestic rock formations, Pacific blues, and patterns of light reflecting on water. Kelly seeks to honor the land and the artists influenced by it. Aesthetically, Kelly is drawn to simplicity, balance, softness, natural textures, colors, and materials. She believes in the power of visual storytelling as a way to harmonize the nervous system, contextualize aspects of the self, bridge perspectives, and spark curiosity for what we feel.

Kelly has studied Feng Shui, sustainable design, textile arts, fashion marketing, and visual communication. She holds an AAS from Parsons The New School for Design and a BA from Furman University. When she’s not alchemizing spaces, you can find Kelly meditating with tea, parked at the beach with a good book, in the nearest body of water, or en route to the next adventure.

Casey Loomis is a performer, dancer, visual artist, experience creator and community weaver who hails from upstate New York. She has a background as a professional dancer, having lived and performed in NYC for 10 years, touring nationally and internationally, with Doug Varone and Dancers, The Metropolitan Opera, and many others. 

She brings to Folklore experience in management, administration, graphic design and marketing, her passion and insight as an artist, and a love of spaces and sensorial experience. She's honored to serve the artists and makers of Folklore, and uphold and further the impeccable vision of Kelly Dye.

Beyond her position at Folklore, Casey currently facilitates a monthly contact improvisation practice, builds performance work under the moniker Rogue Pony, cooks, writes, and pole dances obsessively.