Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce Bard Graduate Center’s inaugural Summer School in Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture to be held on West 86th Street from June 29-July 10, 2020. This launches an annual program for undergraduates, open to rising 3rd and 4th year students along with recent graduates, that will provide an intensive, two-week seminar taught by BGC faculty aimed at exposing students to object-based learning and the interdisciplinary methodologies that underpin graduate level work. Instruction will take full advantage of the outstanding collections of New York City.

The focus for this summer will be on “Dress—Design—Material Culture,1850-2000” and it will be co-taught by Professors Paul Stirton and Michele Majer. Their exciting program will cover the broad range of topics and approaches used by our faculty, such as history of collecting and display; design studies; fashion, dress, and textiles; conservation; and book arts. Instruction will take place in small seminars, museum galleries, and conservation studios and laboratories. Workshops will incorporate BGC’s spring exhibition on designer Eileen Gray with teaching in BGC’s Gallery. The program will carry three upper level undergraduate credits.

We have developed this program to help prepare undergraduates in the humanities to think critically using object-based approaches. We welcome applications from all majors, but particularly want to encourage those who are on a museum studies track, or have demonstrated interest in curatorial studies. We hope you might share this announcement, as well as this flyer. More information about the program, including application instructions, can be found on our website at www.bgc.bard.edu/summer-school.

Professor Peter N. Miller
Dean