February 1, 2016

According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Boyd was a “staunch and a stealthy philanthropist.” She initiated the contemporary craft collection at the Racine Art Museum, which now has one of the largest holdings of such work in the country, thanks in part to her ongoing donations of around 1750 pieces since the 1970s. She served on the boards of the American Craft Council, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Museum, and gave works to museums all over the country, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Boyd was owner and president of the Perimeter Gallery, which she established in Chicago in 1982 and later expanded to New York, to showcase the work of weavers, jewelers, potters, woodworkers, and metalsmiths in close proximity to those by painters and sculptures, blurring the distinctions between art and craft. Among the artists featured at the gallery was former Bennington faculty member Anthony Caro. Boyd began collecting objects when she was a student at Bennington College, acquiring painting and photography alongside baskets and ceramics — an approach that would define her later forays into philanthropy, art dealing, and curating. 

She joined the College’s board of trustees in 1967 and became a life trustee in 2000.