George and Dorothy Saxe, renowned collectors of craft art objects, have always liked to do things differently from everyone else. Their approach to many aspects of their lives has set this Northern California couple apart from the mainstream—from their shared hobby of craft collecting when they could have easily afforded to collect fine art, to donating their collection to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The Saxes have chosen a path that after almost 20 years of collecting has brought them great joy as well as a collection of more than 600 craft art objects. Fortunately for museum-goers, the Saxes have decided to share this joy by promising to donate their entire collection to the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. “Our shared love for these craft items has become a binding element in our marriage, which has lasted 51 years,” Dorothy says. “We feel fortunate and want others to share in our good fortune.”

Interestingly, although the Saxes are now among the superstars of craft collectors, the art scene was not a part of their first 30 years of marriage. During this time, Dorothy was busy raising three children and serving with a number of charitable organizations, while George ran his real estate development business. It was pure serendipity that in the spring of 1980 the Saxes saw a catalog for the Corning Museum of Glass show, “New Glass: A Worldwide Survey,” which was traveling to San Francisco. George in particular was utterly entranced with what he saw. “It was as if someone waved a magic wand,” he says. “I had to find out more about the glass we saw in the catalog.”

Never ones to do things by half, the Saxes became immersed in the world of glass, which was their first collecting passion. And unlike some people who suddenly realize that they have a collection of something, the Saxes set out deliberately to collect glass as intensively as they could. Within a year of seeing their first glass catalog, they had made numerous trips to galleries around the country to educate themselves about premier glass artists and to make purchases. As part of their education, George and Dorothy took the unusual step of soliciting the opinions of glass artists themselves on whom they deemed the top 10 artists in that discipline. They trusted that the artists would know the top people in their field. When the same names kept reappearing, the Saxes knew they were on the right track. “The Saxes had an intelligent approach to collecting,” notes Timothy Burgard, curator for the 1999 de Young Museum’s show, “The Art of Craft: Contemporary Works from the Saxe Collection.”

Regarding the larger issue of why they collected craft objects as opposed to fine art, Dorothy remarks on her love for hand-made items and her desire to have closer relationships with the craft artists than was common with fine artists. “We were drawn to these artists, to their individuality, perseverance and dedication to their craft,” she says. “And we were especially interested in amassing a good collection of craft art that would be respected and give credibility to the artists.”