A photograph of a woman with brown hair and a dress standing inside a building.

Mary Savig

Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has appointed Mary Savig as the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft. Savig’s duties will include research into collection objects; acquiring artworks for the museum’s permanent collection; collection displays at the museum’s Renwick Gallery, its branch for contemporary craft and decorative art; and organizing exhibitions about craft and maker culture. Savig’s research interests include American studio craft, contemporary craft, American art and material culture. Savig begins work at the museum today. See full staff bio. 

Exhibitions

  • Media - 2019.15 - SAAM-2019.15_1 - 137377
    Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women
    The artists in Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women mastered and subverted the everyday materials of cotton, felt, and wool to create deeply personal artworks. This exhibition presents an alternative history of twentieth-century American art by showcasing the work of artists such as Emma Amos, Sheila Hicks, and Faith Ringgold, who, stitch by stitch, utilized fiber materials to express their personal stories and create resonant and intricate artworks.
    May 31, 2024 – January 5, 2025
  • Quilt featuring the portrait of a woman
    This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
    This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases the dynamic landscape of American craft today. The exhibition highlights the role that artists play in our world to spark essential conversations, stories of resilience, and methods of activism—showing us a more relational and empathetic world. It centers more expansive definitions and acknowledgments of often-overlooked histories and contributions of women, people of color, and other marginalized communities.
    May 13, 2022 – April 2, 2023

Books

  • Six duotone book covers are show with "This Present Moment" in black text
    This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
    This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases American craft like never before. Accompanying a 2022 exhibition of the same name, it features artists’ stories of resilience, methods of activism, and highlights craft’s ability to spark essential conversations about race, gender, and representation. This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, the nation’s preeminent center for the enjoyment of American craft. It honors the history of the American studio craft movement while also introducing progressive contemporary narratives.

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