Peter Dormer Lecture 2024: Helen Drutt: 'A Passionate Observer, Five Decades'

The Peter Dormer Lecture is the UK’s major annual applied arts lecture, held in memory of Peter Dormer, the writer and critic who died in 1996. This event was recorded at Royal College of Art, Kensington on Monday 7th October 2024. Organised by a committee of his friends and colleagues and hosted by the Royal College of Art, the lecture aims to continue the debate about applied art and society that was central to Dormer’s concerns. Learn more about the lecture series on the RCA website: https://bit.ly/3Y3r6ct About the talk Helen Drutt takes us on a visual journey documenting international craft exhibitions from 1968 to 2024, beginning with her meeting Graham Hughes in Dublin. Peter Dormer played a key role in deepening her commitment to the field after their encounter in Oslo. Key exhibitions have included Wendy Ramshaw/David Watkins' U.S. debut (1973), Ruth Duckworth/Claire Zeisler (1979), Robert Arneson’s Self Portraits (1979), Poetics of Clay (2001-2003), and shows at The State Hermitage Museum (2014), Nationalmuseum Stockholm (2023-2025), and the Metal Museum in Memphis (2024). Like Bernard Berenson, Drutt’s passion lies in observing and bringing art to the public. About Peter Dormer Peter Dormer’s writings embraced art, architecture, design, technology and education, and his critical and curatorial work helped to promote the crafts into the free-flowing currents of postmodern visual culture. This connectivity is something these lectures celebrate and promote – pr