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 center to house BGC’s Study Collection is planned for 8 West 86th Street.

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).

Left to Right: Jennifer Tobias and Harley Ngai Greco

We are thrilled to announce our 2020-21 Library Artists in Residence, Jennifer Tobias and Harley Ngai Grieco, who have been in residence since October and will be with us through the academic year. This residency invites artists whose work is grounded in research to use the library collection as an incubator for new work. As part of this process, they may conduct research in subject areas relating to their work and address the library itself as an organized collection of print material, utilizing the reference staff as thought partners.

Read more about the artists below!

Jennifer Tobias

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Jennifer Tobias is a scholar and illustrator. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the City University of New York, an MLS from Rutgers, and a BFA from Cooper Union. She provided reader services at the Museum of Modern Art and Parsons School of Design libraries. Her illustrations are included in Health Design Thinking and Design is Storytelling, both by Ellen Lupton. She and Lupton are currently developing Extra Bold: a Feminist, Inclusive, Subversive, Non-Binary Field Guide for Graphic Design, forthcoming from Princeton Architectural Press.

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Harley Ngai Grieco

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Harley Ngai Grieco is a Chinese-American lens-based artist, born and raised in State College, Pennsylvania. She is fascinated with the historical representation of the natural world, the production of decorative domestic objects, and how these traditions participate in their own decay. She earned a BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art in 2013, receiving the Vincent J. Mielcarek, Jr. Memorial Prize and the Sara Cooper Hewitt Fund Prize. Harley has participated in residencies at Trestle Art Space and The Vermont Studio Center, in addition to completing a fellowship at The Bronx Museum. She has received scholarships and grants to attend workshops at UrbanGlass, The Ox-Bow School of Art, and The Penland School of Crafts. Currently, she is based in Brooklyn, New York.

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