Dear Friends of Bard Graduate Center,

While we wait to welcome you back to our Gallery on West 86th Street, we have expanded our online content to give you better access to our exhibitions, publications, and learning activities. Because the Gallery is dedicated to showing the objects of everyday life, I believe, we can play a special role in enlivening your day and perhaps even provide some solace.

Here you can find more than 50 exhibitions featuring objects that include many of the things you actually live with and use; in fact, you may even have them close by as you read this letter. A spoon, a coffee cup, a chair, your shoes or shirt, and, yes, even the computer or hand-held device you are likely using right now, are among the things we research, study, and display. As we look at and think about the objects that represent different realms of our existence, many of them found throughout history and across cultures, we may discover a way of better understanding each other, the world in which we live, and ourselves.

Our wonderful staff has filled the website with a variety of material for people of all ages. There are links to past exhibitions comprising remarkable loans from public and private collections around the world. See how William Kent transformed the British garden. Intriguing textiles from Bali, fashions that French women wore during the First World War, and hats made by the incomparable Stephen Jones. Discover the work of contemporary Colombian artists and engage with the fascinating ideas represented in the Focus Project exhibitions curated by our faculty. You can also read digital publications that encompass a range of subjects from the history of New York City to women designers.

The Gallery is a place for learning, and we welcome educators to the enhanced resources for teaching. Families can also use the many engaging activities, and as we further expand our content there will be educator guided tours as well as ways to see the work of our artists in residence.

The BGC website now has a special link for the Eileen Gray exhibition that offers many digital features, including a flipbook of Gray’s portfolio and wonderful photographs that reveal the range of her multifaceted practice as a designer, architect, artist, and photographer. Gray created exquisite lacquer panels, ingenious furniture, and one of the world’s greatest modern houses. Those of you who know Gray’s work will be fascinated by recent discoveries about her life as you look at some of your favorite pieces. Those who are encountering her for the first time will be surprised and delighted by the accomplishments of this amazing woman.

Come back to the website often, as we will be adding content on a regular basis.

I wish you good health and peace of mind.

Best regards,
Nina Stritzler-Levine
Gallery Director and Director of Curatorial Affairs