A discerning eye, a diva's fervor

Helen Drutt traces a pattern from guest to guest, rearranging, summoning, fretting, surrounding, interrupting. She is in all her disarmingly insecure yet self-possessed raconteuse glory at this Art Alliance opening, overseeing the fruits of her labor.

Her signature elements are all in place. The hat, the abrupt laugh, the angular features, the jaunty air, the expressive eyes behind outrageous glasses, the Breon O'Casey silver cuff bracelets, the bemused recognition by all present that this 78-year-old woman is yet again the one who made it happen.

Many in the art world credit Drutt and the eponymous Center City gallery she ran from 1974 to 2002 with lifting craft out of its hippie-macrame ghetto and into its rightful place, alongside painting and sculpture, in museums, collections, and university classes, by championing artists from all over the world.

She created shows of their works, cultivated buyers for their creations, swapped slides like baseball cards to build audience and community, and promoted reputations.

In 2007, after acquiring her 625-piece collection of jewelry, Peter Marzio, director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, wrote that the collection "forces us . . . to redefine ideas of sculpture, painting, decorative arts."

"How can a necklace be compared to a sculpture?" he asked. "It's heresy. That's the point."

Marzio wrote that Drutt was "a connoisseur, collector, dealer, detective, patron, and visionary," who had "shared her home with these artists, helped them financially when necessary, and encouraged them to forge ahead."

Elisabeth Agro, associate curator of American crafts and decorative art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, says Drutt, a "living archive" in the field, "coalesced craft in this city with her presence, her foresight, her interaction" with the artists, promoting them "in a way that had never been done before."

On this February night, Drutt is presiding over a book-signing and an opening reception for an exhibit, "Challenging the Chatelaine!" A chatelaine is a medieval belt that held the keys of the castle, and Drutt has commissioned art that reimagines the ornament, making it a statement of something individual and new. Artists from four continents have contributed to the show, which she has "organized and conceived" with the Designmuseo of Helsinki, Finland.

"Tell Marianne I said it's a wonderful show," ceramic artist Paula Winokur tells Drutt, speaking of Marianne Aav, Designmuseo's director.