February 5, 2024

Dear Alumni,

I’m glad to hear that many BGC alumni enjoyed reconnecting at the Winter Show! Fortunately, February promises another whirlwind opportunity to meet in person in New York City: as many of you know, the College Art Association’s 113th Annual Conference will take place next week, from February 12 to 15. I’ll share my research on nineteenth-century seaweed albums on Wednesday at 2:30 (stop by if you can—I’d love to hear your thoughts) and many BGC alumni and affiliates will also present throughout the conference. I’m especially excited to invite you to a reception for BGC alumni on February 13. The event will follow the 6 pm conversation at BGC (see details below) with Caroline Fowler and Helga Davis.

If you are presenting at CAA, or if you have any other exciting news to share, please use our Google form to let us know so we can circulate a list of BGC appearances before the conference begins.

All best,
Julia Carabatsos (MA ’22)
alumni@bgc.bard.edu

Alumni Spotlight

On Wednesday, January 22, the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation convened leading curators, collections directors, and museum heads for its inaugural State of American Decorative Arts meeting. Among the discussants were John Stuart Gordon (MA ’04), who currently serves as the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Yale University Art Gallery, and current BGC MA student Mya Bailey.

A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes has earned the Decorative Arts Society’s 2023 Charles Montgomery Prize. The team of editors and writers involved several BGC alumni: Alexa Winton Griffith (MA ’03) was coeditor and cocurator of the Cooper Hewitt exhibition of the same name, and John Stuart Gordon (MA ’04) and Leigh Wishner (MA ’01) were contributors. Well done, all!

Select Career Opportunities

Bard Graduate Center invites scholars from university, museum, and independent backgrounds with a PhD or equivalent professional experience to apply for non-stipendiary Visiting Fellowships to take place during the 2025–26 academic year. Bard Graduate Center Visiting Fellowships, which are intended for scholars who have already secured means of funding, provide scholars with workspace in the Bard Graduate Center Research Center and enable them to join our dynamic, intellectual, and scholarly community in New York City. Visiting Fellowships represent our commitment to conversation and scholarly communication. We are happy to welcome scholars who similarly seek a serious but informal intellectual environment in which to pursue their work in decorative arts, design history, and material culture. Please note that we prioritize applicants who have not previously held a BGC fellowship. Visiting Fellows are invited for four months in the fall or spring semester, though we may consider exceptions under unique circumstances. We do not reimburse fellows for travel, relocation, housing, or visa-related costs in connection with this fellowship award. Applications are due on March 3, 2025.

Applications for the Burlington Magazine Scholarship are due on March 30. Applicants must be studying, or intending to study, for an MA, PhD, post-doctoral or independent research in the field of French eighteenth-century fine and decorative arts within the twelve-month period that the funding is given. The start date of successful applications should be at the beginning of the academic year (generally September). Earlier start dates will be considered for independent scholars or post-doctoral research. The funding is open to UK and international applicants. Object-related research of the kind featured in the magazine is funded by this scholarship and may lead to the submission of articles for publication in The Burlington Magazine.

The Department of Design, Media, and Educational Science at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Faculty of Humanities, invites applications for a position as associate or assistant professor in design studies with a focus on fashion studies. The position is located at SDU, Kolding, and is available from October 1, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) seeks a Lydia and Doug Shorenstein Research Fellow. SFMOMA’s Shorenstein Research Fellowship provides an emerging scholar with an eighteen-month opportunity to extend their range of expertise and research skills through immersion in the work of the Painting and Sculpture Department. Working closely with curators in the department, the Fellow will focus on two research projects: a forthcoming exhibition on postwar Northern California craft (75% time commitment) and a collection-building research focus on Indigenous and Native American artists (25% time commitment). The Shorenstein Fellow will work with associate curators in the Painting and Sculpture Department and will have regular check-ins to discuss progress with the interim curator and head of painting and sculpture. The Fellow will also participate in the general activities of the Painting and Sculpture Department and attend department, division, and project-specific meetings.  

Bard Graduate Center welcomes submissions for the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Book Prize, awarded annually to the best book on the decorative arts, design history, or material culture of the Americas. The prize rewards scholarly excellence and commitment to cross-disciplinary conversation. The winning author(s) or editor(s) will be chosen by a committee of Bard Graduate Center faculty and will be honored with a research event exploring new directions, critical applications, and intersections of the awarded book’s argument. Submissions must have a 2024 publication date and be received by April 4, 2025.

For more opportunities please visit the BGC job board.

username: career.services@bgc.bard.edu
password: CareersBGC2024-5*=*

Select Events at BGC

My Arm: A Performance by Tim Crouch
Wednesday, February 12, 6 pm

My Arm is the story of a man who has lived for thirty years with one arm raised above his head. Told with all the authenticity and detail of an autobiography, it is a totally honest and convincing piece of theatre. Performed live by Tim Crouch—largely through the animation of everyday objects supplied by the audience and with sequences of film commissioned from Chris Dorley-Brown—My Arm is a study of bloody-mindedness, modern art, and how the things we do when we’re ten stick with us for life.

Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art: A Conversation with Caroline Fowler (Clark Art Institute) and Helga Davis
Thursday, February 13, 6 pm

In her new book, Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art (Duke University Press, 2025), Caroline Fowler examines the fundamental role of the transatlantic slave trade in the production and evolution of seventeenth-century Dutch art. Fowler will engage in conversation with renowned artist and podcaster Helga Davis on the book, thinking about the role of poetics in writing history, the importance of Black feminism in rethinking art history, and the ways in which “Old Master” painting continues to impact how the world is seen and interpreted.

The Empire’s New Cloth: Cross-Cultural Textiles at the Qing Court
A Lecture by Mei Mei Rado
Wednesday, February 19, 6 pm

In the early modern period, luxury textiles circulated globally as trade goods and diplomatic gifts, fostering cultural exchange between distant regions. By the eighteenth century, both China and Europe had developed a splendid tradition of silk and tapestry weaving. In her new book, The Empire’s New Cloth, Mei Mei Rado explores how Qing court workshops adapted European textile designs and techniques and uncovers the specific uses and meanings of these textiles in imperial military ceremonies, religious spaces, and palace interiors. While the role of Chinese silk imports in Europe has been well studied, this book reconstructs the forgotten history of the eastward movement of European textiles to China and their integration into the arts and culture of the Qing Empire.

Spring Information Session
Thursday, February 20, 6 pm

If you know any prospective students, please spread the word about BGC’s Spring Information Session. Attendees will learn more about our MA and PhD programs in decorative arts, design history, and material culture. Our chair of academic programs, professor Deborah Krohn, and director of admissions, Keith Condon, will be in conversation about research and teaching at BGC, admissions, student life, and more.

Select External Events

Faculty Book Talk: Shelley Rice on Image Making: Essays on Visual Culture (1978–2018)
Wednesday, February 19, 6:30 pm
New York University

Long before social media created a surfeit of globally interconnected images, the art world opened its previously narrow confines to include the true diversity of image production. Image Making chronicles Shelley Rice’s skillful navigation of two pivotal moments in this transformation: the pluralism of New York in the 1970s and the global outreach of digital networks in the 2010s. As one of our era’s most incisive and inspired photography and multimedia critics, Rice insightfully chronicles this seismic shift, offering a deeply resonant exploration of art’s intersection with society. Her critical engagement with renowned artists and curators such as Manual Álvarez Bravo, Ana Mendieta, Francesca Woodman, Lorraine O’Grady, Duane Michals, Gerhard Richter, Okwui Enwezar, Walid Raad, and Cindy Sherman sets a standard for understanding contemporary art and the vital role a seminal critic plays in shaping our visual culture. Image Making is indispensable reading for anyone interested in contemporary art, the role of criticism, and the deep interdependence of images and social, cultural, and political forces.

Dancing an Orphist ‘Egypt’: The Delaunays and Artistic Imperialism

Wednesday, February 26, 6:30 pm
Guggenheim New York

Join Guggenheim New York as Dr. Juliet Bellow, Associate Professor of Art History at American University, presents a lecture in conjunction with current exhibition Harmony and Dissonance. Following the program, attendees are invited to an after-hours viewing of the exhibition.

Shop the BGC Store!

Visit our online store at store.bgc.bard.edu for 40% off all items. Enter code ALUMNI at checkout to receive the discount.

Sign up for Gaggle!

Gaggle.mail is an opt-in list-serv that serves as a place to share job openings, conference attendance, published books/articles, and exhibition openings directly with fellow alums. It’s a communication forum for alumni, by alumni. To circulate your news in the Gaggle group, send an email to bgcalumni@gaggle.email.