Lloyd E. Herman

Lloyd Eldred Herman (March 19, 1936 – January 2, 2023) was an American arts administrator, curator, writer, museum planner and acknowledged expert on contemporary craft. He was known for being the founding Director of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., from 1971 to 1986.

Herman was elected as an honorary fellow by the American Craft Council in 1988. Additionally he was an Honorary Lifetime Member of Northwest Designer Craftsmen, a member of the American Alliance of Museums, an honorary member of the American Society of Interior Designers, and a trustee of the Highline Historical Society. He was decorated in Belgium and Denmark for exhibitions that he organized in their countries.

Early life and education Herman was an Oregon native. Lloyd Herman retired from the Smithsonian Institution in 1986.

Museum planning In 1988, Herman began the directorship of the Cartright Gallery, a non-profit craft gallery in Vancouver, B.C., and planned its future as the Canadian Craft Museum. Working there for three years, he developed a space-use plan and an exhibition program.

At the same time, he curated traveling shows for the Whatcom Museum of History and Art in Bellingham, WA. They included Into the Woods: Washington Wood Artists, Clearly Art: Pilchuck's Glass Legacy, and Trashformations: Recycled Materials in Contemporary American Art and Design, among others.

In 1993 he was hired by Oregon State University to plan a new museum on the Oregon Coast as part of the Thundering Seas Institute, a craft school component of the university's art department. Though advanced architectural planning and land acquisition at Agate Beach in Newport, OR, proceeded, the facility was never built.

He joined the planning staff for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington in 1998 as Acting Senior Curator, writing collection and exhibition policies, and advising on space planning for the facility prior to its construction.

Independent curator and lecturer Herman continued to curate exhibitions on craft and design topics for the United States Information Agency, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and various other museums and traveling exhibition services. He lectured on American crafts throughout the United States, and numerous locations abroad. He led craft tours to Bhutan, India, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, and Vietnam. He lectured regularly on contemporary glass art for Elderhostel/Road Scholar programs in Seattle.

Publications Herman co-authored the book, Thomas Mann, Metal Artist. Later writing projects included books on glass artists Narcissus Quagliata and Josh Simpson.