Bard Graduate Center is an advanced graduate research institute in New York City dedicated to the cultural histories of the material world. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, scholarly publications and public programs explore new ways of thinking about decorative arts, design history, and material culture.

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Exhibitions

The Bard Graduate Center Gallery produces multiple exhibitions and publications each year, serving as a vital center of learning and a catalyst for engagement in the interrelated disciplines of decorative arts, design, and material culture. The gallery is celebrated in the museum world for its longstanding legacy of landmark projects dedicated to significant—yet often understudied—figures and movements in the history of decorative arts and design; these exhibitions and publications typically represent the definitive intervention on the artists and objects they investigate. BGC Gallery is also committed to generating and supporting a vast range of diverse presentations, small and large, that challenge traditional approaches to object inquiry; these examinations of material culture explore the human experience as manifest in our creation and use of “things” of all kinds. Whether originating in internal research and expertise, or in collaboration with external subject specialists, these endeavors prioritize rigorous scholarship while seeking to adhere to the field’s highest standards in production and design.




Come to BGC’s pop-up artist studio days to watch demonstrations by master napkin folder Joan Sallas (Saturday, February 18) and ethnobotanist and dye maker Arnold Clifford (Saturday, March 4). Learn by observing these experts at work and enhance your experience of Staging the Table and Shaped by the Loom! Included with purchase of an exhibition ticket.


Studio Visit: The Gentle Art of Napkin Folding
A demonstration by Joan Sallas
February 18, 2–4 pm
Bard Graduate Center Gallery, 4th floor

Virtuoso napkin folder Joan Sallas turns simple linen napkins into three-dimensional wonders. This demonstration brings to life the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century manuals featured in Staging the Table.

Free with gallery admission or when you book a curator tour.



Studio Visit: Making Dyes from Plants
A demonstration by Arnold Clifford
March 4, 2–4 pm
Bard Graduate Center Gallery, 4th floor

Many of the objects in Shaped by the Loom feature vivid colors made with natural dyes. Watch ethnobotanist Arnold Clifford make these dyes with plants from the Navajo Nation.

Free with gallery admission or when you book a curator tour.