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).

Heath Ballowe (MA ‘22) was featured in the James Renwick Alliance’s Craft Quarterly publication (summer 2021) twice: once in an article about the next generation of collectors (page 9) and again as the writer of an article entitled, “A Momentous Hoard: A Life of Love and Craft” (page 13) about Philadelphia collectors Vicente Lim and Robert Tooey.

Emma McClendon (current PhD candidate) wrote a chapter for Mannequins in Museums: Power and Resistance on Display, edited by Bridget Cooks and Jennifer Wagelie. Entitled “Fashion and physique: size, shape, and body politics in the display of historical dress,” the chapter is based on McLendon’s work for the exhibition The Body: Fashion and Physique, which she curated in 2017 for the Museum at FIT.

Sarah Scaturro (current PhD candidate) was featured in an interview in the peer-reviewed journal Fashion Practice. She spoke about her “experiences of repairing fashion objects from both worlds of fashion, inside the museum where delicate skills and in-depth knowledge are required, and outside where imperfections and practical applications are received well.”

Kate Sekules (current PhD student) has an article entitled “Evil in Your Wardrobe” in the most recent issue of Selvedge, which is devoted to mending, darning, patching, and repairing clothing.

Courtney Stewart (current PhD student) was featured in the Aga Khan Museum’s “Peer Perspectives” series, talking about an object in their collection.

Leonie Treier (current PhD student) writes to say, “I miss New York but can’t complain about being in DC because I have finally received access to the collection I’m working on. I now feel like a real PhD student!!” She wrote an article entitled “Annotating Colonialism: Recent Exhibit Interventions in Historic Cultural (Mis)Representation at the American Museum of Natural History” published in Museum Anthropology Review.

Diane Yang (current PhD candidate) returned to the US after two years in Shanghai. She celebrated with Anne Hilker (PhD ‘21) and her husband, the Honorable Robert D. Sack.