Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

MA 1998

Julia Gorzka Freeman has been appointed development officer at the Tampa Museum of Art.

MA 2004

Jennifer Scanlan left the Museum of Arts and Design in January and is curating three exhibitions scheduled in 2014. Her exhibition of lighting design in glass for the new gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn will open in the spring. “Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Explore the Garden” is scheduled for June at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City, and an exhibition of Sasha Stoyanov, an Israeli tapestry artist, is scheduled for the fall at 108 Contemporary, a center for contemporary craft in Tulsa.

PhD 2010

Michelle Finamore is curator of fashion arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her latest exhibition, which runs through May 26, 2014, is “Think Pink” which explores the history and changing meanings of the color as its popularity ebbed and flowed in fashion and visual culture from the 18th century to the present day.

MA 2011

Luke Baker writes about and organizes exhibitions on art, design, and visual and material culture. Since entering the BGC in 2008, his articles have been published in the Magazine Antiques, Modern magazine, Metalsmith, The Studio Potter, Artpapers, Outpost Journal, and the Museum of Modern Art’s blog, Inside/Out. He is currently on the curatorial staff in the department of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art..

MA 2011

Christian Larsen is a curator at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University, where his focus is on Latin American material culture, with an emphasis on Brazil. He is currently working on his PhD at the BGC.