A Dolly Parton portrait made of seeds. Size-96 cowboy boots. A button quilt. Mary Savig has spent years looking carefully at the kinds of objects most people walk past at a state fair without giving them a second thought — and she has come away convinced that American state and tribal fairs hold some of the most consequential craft work in the country. On Wednesday morning, she brings that argument to a free online conversation hosted by the Pasadena Public Library.
Savig, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, will discuss her book and exhibition “State Fairs: Growing American Craft,” the first major Smithsonian project dedicated to artists’ contributions to the great American fairs. The catalog features more than 100 photographs of extraordinary and often unconventional crafts: needlework, basketry, jewelry, ceramics, crop art, butter sculpture and saddles among them. The exhibition pairs blue-ribbon quilts with sculpted butter cows; the catalog threads together personal stories, regional traditions and tribal-fair work to compose a vibrant portrait of American life.
Savig holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her work at the Renwick has helped reframe how the Smithsonian’s American art collection treats craft — not as a category set apart from fine art, but as a living tradition deeply tied to community, place and seasonal rhythm.
The webinar is free, but registration is required to receive the viewing link. Sign-up is available through the Pasadena Public Library’s online events page.
The Smithsonian Curator Mary Savig author talk “State Fairs: Growing American Craft” will take place online Wednesday, June 3 from 11 a.m. to noon, hosted by the Pasadena Public Library. Admission is free. Registration required.
