Christa C. Mayer Thurman of the Art Institute of Chicago was presented the College Art Association/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation at the CAA meeting in New York on February 23, 2000.

At present the Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles and Textile Conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago, Ms. Mayer was educated in Germany and Switzerland and went on to earn a BA from Finch College and an MA in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. From the beginning of her career, she was imbued with an enduring curiosity about the structure and chemistry of textiles, as well as their aesthetic interpretation.

Since her appointment at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1967, Mrs. Thurman has been responsible for two major phases of development in the Department of Textiles. Her ideas on departmental design and function have been imitated both nationally and internationally.

In 1992 she was awarded, by an anonymous donor, a curatorial chair endowed and named in her honor. It is believed that this is the first occurrence in the museum profession in which a curator has had a curatorial chair endowed and named in his or her honor while continuing in the position. This title will continue in perpetuity.

This award was initiated in 1990 for an outstanding contribution by one or more persons who, individually or jointly, have enhanced the understanding of art through the application of knowledge and experience in conservation, art history, and art. The award committee consisted of Margaret Holben Ellis, Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, Chair; Barbara Magnum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Alan Wallach, The College of William and Mary; and Frank Zuccari, The Art Institute of Chicago.

The award committee noted, "Mrs. Thurman's long list of publications, presentations, and exhibitions are testament to her vigilant advocacy of an often underappreciated material. Warps and wefts are handled with equal facility as Watteau, and no S-twist or mysterious symbol goes unraveled. Through her discourses on the textile arts, Christa C. Mayer Thurman serves as a model of professional stewardship to which all curators and conservators should aspire."