October 23, 2024

Dear Alumni,

Recently, I helped my dear friend and BGC classmate Samuel Snodgrass (MA ’22) show his collages, which in the last year have become a key component of his multimedia art practice that also involves millinery and drawing. The collages make use of a range of printed materials, often collected from the street: art history catalogues, advertisements from magazines, and erotic imagery. Samuel pairs this content into unexpected (and in my biased opinion, simply hilarious) juxtapositions: men clad in leather cling to oversized skewers of meat and vegetables, and Dolly Parton receives a blessing in an early modern religious painting. He sometimes finds inspiration from publicity materials produced by the Frick Collection, where he works in education. He also teaches fashion history courses at FIT. You can learn more about his art practice on his website, or on Instagram, @samuel.snodgrass.art. I’d be happy to write about your path after BGC in this forum—write to me if you’re interested in being featured.

The alumni gathering in New York is fast approaching! Please find details and RSVP here for the Tuesday, November 12 event generously hosted by Susan Weber.

As always, you can share updates through the online form.

All best,

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

Alumni Spotlight

Anna Riley (MA ’23) will present a portion of her qualifying paper research at the History of Science Society’s centennial conference in early November as part of a panel on craft knowledge. Well done, Anna!

Select Career Opportunities

The Museums at Washington and Lee University are currently hiring for an endowed three-year fellowship funded assistant curator of ceramics. The position will allow an early or mid-career specialist to research, teach, and work with the Reeves Museum of Ceramics collection. The position is open to individuals with a master’s degree or a PhD conferred in the last seven years.

The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is accepting applications to its fellowship program until November 1. ASF offers both long-term (4–12 months) fellowships of up to $23,000 and short-term (1–3 months) fellowships of up to $5,000 to graduate students (preferably dissertation-related) and academic professionals interested in pursuing research or creative arts projects in the Nordic region (Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Sápmi).  Awards are given in all fields.

For more job listings please visit the BGC job board.
username: career.services@bgc.bard.edu
password: CareersBGC2024-5*=*

BGC Events

Huipiles for a 500-Year-Old Woman
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
6 pm

Malintzin—the interpreter for Hernán Cortés—is a crucial character in the history of what is now known as México. At a meeting hosted by the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, which included historians, linguists, textile scholars, and—most importantly—weavers and embroiderers from indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Guerrero, a seed was planted. After listening about the life of Malintzin, her context, her dexterity with different languages, and the possible structure and aesthetic of the huipiles (tunics) she may have worn, an invitation was extended to every artist in the room: if Malintzin were alive today and she visited your hometown, what is the huipil that you would create for her? This project was carried out on-site at the Museo, but also remotely via WhatsApp, voice messages, and Zoom meetings, and resulted in an exhibition presented at the Museo in October 2023.

Thresholds of Contact and Conflict: Material Culture and Jewish History from Early Modern Times to the Fin de Siècle
The Leon Levy Foundation Lectures in Jewish Material Culture by Daniel Jütte
Thursday, October 24, 2024
6 pm

In a series of three lectures, beginning on October 24, historian Daniel Jütte explores dynamics of contact and conflict in Jewish-Christian relations by focusing on one overarching theme: thresholds. Understanding thresholds in both a literal and figurative sense, his talks span a wide chronological arc from early modern times to the fin de siècle. The first lecture probes how shared objects, customs, and memories crossed thresholds between Christians and Jews in early modern Europe. The second talk homes in on the complex role that liminal spaces played in encounters between both religious communities in Renaissance cities. The final lecture examines how, in modern times, artistic representations of the Jewish condition—especially the little-known trope of “threshold dwellers”—influenced visions of the Jewish past and future.

Irish Fever: A Lecture by Meredith Linn (Bard Graduate Center)
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
6 pm

During the Irish Potato Famine of the nineteenth century, about one million people perished from starvation and disease while more than two million fled Ireland in fear and desperation, with some 850,000 landing in New York City. Many found themselves impoverished, taking dangerous jobs, and battling miserable living conditions in an unfamiliar urban landscape. In her new book, Irish Fever: An Archaeology of Illness, Injury, and Healing in New York City, 1845–1875, Meredith B. Linn explores three kinds of afflictions—typhus fever, tuberculosis, and work-related injuries—that disproportionately affected Irish immigrants, tracing how existing medical ideas and technologies intersected with American prejudices to further conspire against this once culturally distinct group. In this talk, she will draw upon extensive archaeological remains, folklore records, and historical documents to present what she terms a “visceral historical archaeology”—a perspective rooted in historical archaeology and medical anthropology—to illuminate the experiences of these newcomers, and the history of American reception of immigrants more broadly.

Select External Events

Unfolding the Coromandel Screen
City University of Hong Kong and online
November 22–23, 2024

During the second half of the seventeenth century, the production of Coromandel screens, also known as kuancai (meaning “carved polychrome”), flourished along China’s southeast coast. These screens became immensely popular both domestically and in European markets, establishing connections between regional artisans, merchants, and prominent European figures, including royalty and nobility. In the last two decades of this century, Coromandel screens emerged as one of China’s most frequently exported commodities, rivaling porcelain and challenging Japanese lacquerware exports. Their significance extends far beyond the common perception of them as merely mass-produced craftwork of inferior quality.

With the generous support of Bei Shan Tang Foundation, the Department of Chinese and History at City University of Hong Kong will host a two-part academic event titled “Unfolding the Coromandel Screen” to celebrate the department’s tenth anniversary. The conference, organized by Lianming Wang (City University of Hong Kong) in collaboration with Mei Mei Rado (Bard Graduate Center), will take place on-site at City University of Hong Kong and via Zoom from November 22–23, 2024. It will bring together an international group of art historians, museum curators, conservators, collectors, and global historians. Participants will explore various aspects of the Coromandel screen and its intricate histories, including its interrelations with paintings, prints, decorative arts, palatial and interior designs, global maritime trade, and the fashion industry.

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.