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).

Susan Weber. Photo by Da Ping Luo.

Greetings from West 86th Street, where the spring semester is in full swing, and the installation for two upcoming exhibitions is in progress.

Staging the Table in Europe 1500–1800, curated by Bard Graduate Center associate professor Deborah L. Krohn, explores the dining customs and practices of the early modern period. I invite you to experience the exhibition, where you will encounter many gloriously illustrated books written for and by servants in the wealthiest households. They provide instructions for carving meats, fishes, and fruits, and folding napkins into elaborate sculptural forms and are displayed alongside rarely-seen table linens and carving knives and forks made of precious materials.

Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest features historic blankets, garments, and rugs from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), many of which have never before been on view, alongside breathtaking panoramic photographs of the Navajo Nation and contemporary works by Diné weavers and artists. I am proud to present the work of Hadley Jensen, an alumna of BGC’s MA and PhD programs, who curated the exhibition and did much of the research for it during her tenure as the BGC / AMNH Postdoctoral Fellow.

I hope you will join us this semester for Wednesdays @ BGC, a series of fascinating events programmed by the Public Humanities + Research department. I look forward to welcoming the many artists and thinkers featured in these events to campus.

The academic life of BGC is enriched this semester by these guests and by our spring fellows. We count among them two archaeologists, two historians, an artist working with clay, and a designer of textiles and furniture. I hope you will learn more about them and our fellowship programs here.

Finally, I want to congratulate BGC assistant professor Freyja Hartzell on the publication of her book, Richard Riemerschmid’s Extraordinary Living Things (MIT Press, 2022). Recently she spoke with BGC student Mackensie Griffin about her research. You can read a transcript of their conversation and find more news from the BGC faculty in this newsletter.

If you don’t have the opportunity to join us on campus in the next few months, please engage with our publications and many resources available from home, including online exhibitions and YouTube recordings of past events.

Susan Weber, Founder and Director, Bard Graduate Center