Helen Drutt

Helen Williams Drutt English (born November 19, 1930) is an American gallerist, educator, and author who is best known for her efforts to raise the perception of the so-called craft arts (jewelry, ceramics, wood, fiber) to the same level as fine art through her gallery, teaching, and lectures. As a result of her national and international exhibits, lectures, and catalogs, she has been called the "godmother" and "queen" of crafts. She has received many honors, including a Lifetime Achievement in Crafts award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts and a Lifetime Achievement award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths (2003).

Early life, education Helen Williams Drutt was born on November 19, 1930, in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and moved to Philadelphia as a child. She earned a B.F.A. degree from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1952 and later studied at the Barnes Foundation. to 1973. She founded the Helen Drutt Gallery in 1973 at 1625 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, and held her inaugural exhibit on February 22, 1974. At the same time, Drutt was invited to develop the first college syllabus on the history of 20th-century crafts at Philadelphia College of Art. By 1979, Drutt's gallery was compared in influence and importance to Alfred Stieglitz's 291 Gallery.

In 1982 the Helen Drutt Gallery moved to 305 Cherry Street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, and in 1984 to 1721 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. In 1988 a Manhattan branch of the gallery opened at 724 Fifth Avenue, New York. In 1995 Drutt was invited by the City of Philadelphia to serve as its first cultural ambassador.

Although the Helen Drutt Gallery closed as a physical space in 2002, Drutt has continued lecturing, writing, and curating. Major exhibits since then include Poetics of Clay: An International Perspective, which exhibited over 125 artists from 14 countries surveying 50 years (1950-2000) of ceramics drawn from private and public collections; A View From America: Contemporary Jewelry ,1974-2003; Brooching It Diplomatically: A Tribute to Madeleine K. Albright; Challenging the Châtelaine!; Gifts from America: 1948–2013, comprising 74 works given to the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2014; RINGS! 1968 - 2021; Bracelets, Bangles, & Cuffs: 1948-2024, at the Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, 2024; and Beauty and the Unexpected, comprising works given to the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden exhibited from 2023-2025.

The Helen Williams Drutt Collection of Contemporary Studio Jewelry has been exhibited worldwide on several occasions. From 1985 to 1995 it traveled to 11 museums which include the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Canada (1984), Philadelphia Museum of Art (1986-87), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1994-95) and the Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende, Belgium (1995). The support of this exhibition expresses a primary concern and focus on preserving a segment of the history of contemporary jewellery. The expanded Helen Williams Drutt Collection was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where it was exhibited in 2007 under the title Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection with an extensive catalog of the complete collection.

Personal life Drutt has been married four times: first to Larry Weiss, then to William Drutt (both marriages ended in divorce). Her third marriage was to poet Maurice English from 1982 until his death only one year later in 1983. Drutt founded the Maurice English Poetry Award in his honor. In 2007 she married H. Peter Stern (1928-2018), co-founder of the Storm King Art Center, with whom she remained until his death in 2018. She has a daughter, Ilene Weiss, and a son, Matthew Drutt.

Awards and honors Most of the honors listed here are sourced from "A Passionate Observer: A Tribute to Helen Drutt", the Clay Studio, 2009

1990: honorary doctorate of fine arts, Moore College of Art and Design 2004: Hall of Fame, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, England 2019: honorary doctorate of fine arts, Alfred University, Alfred, NY

Publications

Lectures and interviews