Join MAD and New York City Jewelry Week for an afternoon with renowned craft educator and collector Helen W. Drutt English. Drutt will be reprising her standing-room-only lecture at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich during the 2023 contemporary jewelry fair Schmuck. Sharing key historical moments in studio and contemporary jewelry, she will recount stories from her career that spans over six decades. This is a rare opportunity to learn from one of jewelry’s most influential figures the firsthand history of the exhibitions, publications, the artists, and the practices that have helped to shape the field.

About the Speaker

Helen W. Drutt English is an esteemed former gallerist, educator, curator, and collector who is credited for ushering American craft onto the global stage to further the modern craft movement. She was a founding member of the Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen in 1967 and began her eponymous gallery six years later in 1973, one of the first US galleries committed to modern and contemporary craft.

Drutt holds Honorary doctorate of arts degrees from three universities and was named a Museum of Arts and Design Visionary in 1999. She has lectured internationally, written numerous essays, and developed major exhibitions in the field of craft. Her research and extensive library are held as vital resources.

She is a former trustee of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (2010-2021) and current trustee of the Bard Graduate Center, New York; served on the American Board, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Indian and Himalayan Art Advisory Committee, Philadelphia Museum of Art (1996-2019); the American Board of Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum in Athens, Greece; and serves on the Peter Dormer Lecture Committee, London, England. Dedicated to bringing American craft abroad, Drutt conceived and organized “Gifts from America”, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (2014) and “Beauty and the Unexpected”, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden (2023-2024).