When worlds collide...folk art and fonts

You learn something new everyday.  

The International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe has one of the largest cross-cultural collections of  folk art by a single person, Alexander H. Girard, and the Girard Collection.  Not only is the collection massive in every respect, Girard himself organized the exhibit and the groupings are sublime (and sometimes hilarious).

From the museum's website:

I believe we should preserve this evidence of the past, 

not as a pattern for sentimental imitation, 

but as nourishment for the creative spirit of the present.

-Alexander Girard

Alexander Girard himself designed the exhibition Multiple Visions: A Common Bond which displays more than 10,000 pieces from the Girard Foundation Collection. An interior designer and architect, he was already well-known for his bold and colorful designs of textiles, household and office furnishings, graphics, and interiors for corporate clients such as Herman Miller, Inc., John Deere and Braniff International. In this installation, he challenged the conventions of exhibition design. Notice how his design occupies the entire volume of the gallery space, how he places objects both above and below eye level, and how her used color throughout the exhibit, even overhead.

Now, when I saw this collection it never dawned on me that this was the same person as the Girard of typeface fame.  Today I got an email from House Industries, pitching the Girard collection of fonts.  Imagine my surprise (and a bit of dismay at my own lack of dot connecting) when I saw that not only are they offering the type collection, but objects of design by this outstanding man.