September 25, 2024

Dear Alumni,

Last week, I had a wonderful evening at the opening of BGC’s current exhibition, Sèvres Extraordinaire! Sculpture from 1740 until Today. I especially enjoyed chatting with other alumni (of course, given the subject matter at hand, over hors d’oeuvres with a band performing “Je ne regrette rien” in the background). I hope that you’ll make it to a future opening—I’ll be sure to share the details in this newsletter. In the meantime, I encourage you to visit the BGC Gallery and experience all the delights that the Sèvres show holds.

I always welcome your news through our online form. If you haven’t updated your contact information recently, you can fill out this form.

All best,

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

Alumni Spotlight

Several BGC alumni appear on this year’s Apollo magazine 40 Under 40 Craft list. Look for both Roisin Inglesby (MA ’12) and Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy (MA ’16) on the “Thinkers” section of the list, and Emma Scully (MA ’14) in the “Business” section. Congratulations, all!

In my last newsletter, I highlighted the many BGC alumni on staff at the Brooklyn Museum. This time, I’ll share a few words about the mini BGC community forming at Gurr Johns. Anna Crowley (MA ’25) recently started working as a research associate, alongside director of decorative arts and senior specialist Patrick Sheehan (MA ’02). Their team manages a wide variety of appraisal projects including high-level estates, institutional donations and insurance. Ana Gutierrez-Folch (MA ’14), director of appraisals for the Americas region, issues Gurr Johns appraisals. Well done, all!

Caroline O’Connell (MA ’16) recently started a new position as exhibitions curator at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Well done, Caroline!

Select Career Opportunities

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, seeks a curatorial assistant in the department of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design. The curatorial assistant will support departmental activities, exhibitions, publications, and special projects. Find more information at the posting.

The SNSF-funded project “Artistic Failures in Renaissance Ceramic Workshops” (AFIRE) led by Dr. Zuzanna Sarnecka (Institute of Art History, University of Bern) seeks a full-time PhD researcher. The AFIRE project will highlight the interconnectedness of Central Europe where from the sixteenth century patrons and artists strove to establish local production of tin-glazed earthenware at the highest level. The project seeks to create an overview of the types of technical failure across artistic workshops in areas considered peripheral by mainstream art history, areas as distant from each other as Lesser Poland, Moravia and Istria. Those areas were characterized by different geological conditions, political systems, economic potential, and religious practices.

The Central Park Conservancy seeks a Seneca Village program coordinator. The position will participate in the planning of, and be responsible for the administration and execution of, community engagement programs related to planning for commemoration and interpretation of the history of Seneca Village.

Marist College is hiring an assistant professor in fashion and costume history. The submission period for this tenure track position closes on October 15.

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

BGC Events

Glassblowing as Terraforming: Posthumanist Turns in Theories of Embodied Knowledge
A Paul and Irene Hollister Lecture on Glass by Erin E. O’Connor (Marymount Manhattan College)

Wednesday, September 25, 2024
6 pm

In the mid-twentieth century, American artists turned to glass as a medium of expression, distinguishing themselves from factory glassworkers. Left out of this history—which is rich with artist biographies and aesthetic analyses of glass objects—is the material life of silica mines. In this lecture, Erin E. O’Connor connects the formation of glass objects to the ongoing formation of the earth, seeing them as two sides of one artistic process. Drawing from anthropological fieldwork at mines and a glassmaking facility in Appalachia to explore these intertwined yet unconnected realms, she aims to overcome a deep-seated dualism between human creativity and natural science that polarizes glassmaking (mixing ingredients) and glassblowing (making objects). In doing so, she addresses how the human experience of self-determination and creativity intersects with the living (and dying) ecological world.

Parisian Dreams: German Migrants and Cabinetmaking in Eighteenth-Century Paris
A Françoise and George Selz Lecture on Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century French Decorative Arts and Culture by Miriam Schefzyk (J. Paul Getty Museum)

Wednesday, October 2, 2024
6 pm

Paris has long been a privileged destination for many, but there was a particularly significant migration that began in the seventeenth century and gathered strength during the eighteenth century: that of German cabinetmakers. Hardworking and aspiring to wealth, recognition, and a better life, these numerous artisans made Paris into the most important center in the furniture and luxury trade of the time. Many of them rose to important positions as masters or leaders in the guild, and some even obtained royal privileges and titles. Their furniture was regarded as the incarnation of French taste and is still viewed as evidence of the supremacy of French decorative arts today. In this lecture, Miriam E. Schefzyk will examine the living and working conditions of these artisans and how their background as migrants significantly shaped the framework in which these extraordinary pieces of furniture were created.

Select External Events

Symposium—Chia Oil in 18th Century Mexican Lacquerware and Paintings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tuesday, October 15
10:30 am

Gain insight into the art of Mexico with a live demonstration by celebrated artisans from Michoacan, Mexico, and presentations from Met scholars and multidisciplinary experts. Join us to explore the scientific, historical, and cultural implications of the use of chia oil in colonial Mexican artworks and hear about exciting advancements in the study of this versatile plant material.

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.