April 3, 2025

Dear Alumni,

I have returned to New York after two weeks at the Getty and am excited to find that some version of spring weather has arrived in the Northeast after our very cold winter. I will miss my days in the constant sunshine of March in Los Angeles, but coming back to the excitement of a new, warmer season in New York is an acceptable consolation!

You may have seen an email last month from Amy Estes, BGC’s chief communications officer, with a survey for alumni—please take a moment to fill out the form if you haven’t already!

As always, I’d love to hear your latest news, which you can share through our online form.

All best,

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

Alumni Spotlight

In March, Patrick Sheehan (MA ’02) presented a talk for the Wright Site Directors Summit in conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. The presentation covered Frank Lloyd Wright and the design market and addressed an audience of leaders of thirty public sites designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Well done, Patrick!

Select Career Opportunities

The Department of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art seeks a summer intern to fill a fixed-term position supported by the Museum’s partnership with the Art Bridges Mid-South Cohort. This position will allow an undergraduate or graduate student in art history or a related field the opportunity to learn about museum work while contributing to exhibition development at the Museum. In the summer of 2026, the intern will complete research and help to manage logistical and administrative tasks related to the museum’s upcoming exhibition on Southern food. This work will include research in library and archival collections, expanding the exhibition’s checklist through ancillary material culture and ephemera, assisting in developing community relationships related to the exhibition, and drafting labels, among other tasks. It may also include assisting with publication development and working across the museum’s teams to implement the project at the BMA. Find more information here.

For more job listings please visit the BGC job board.

username: career.services@bgc.bard.edu
password: CareersBGC2025-6*=*

Select BGC Events

**Alumni receive complimentary tickets to attend BGC exhibitions and events. Use code ALUMNI at checkout.**

Viollet-le-Duc Drawing Worlds
On view in the BGC Gallery through May 24, 2026

Digital Technologies and Archaeological Reclamation
A lecture by Edward González-Tennant (Texas State University)
Wednesday, April 8, 6 pm

Historical archaeologists are uniquely positioned to explore hidden histories—those events erased or otherwise obfuscated in the present—by facilitating a nuanced understanding of the past and its legacies in the present. This presentation explores how a range of digital technologies support archaeological reclamation, an emerging approach that positions archaeological expertise at the service of communities and the public. Dr. González-Tennant discusses several case studies from Florida and Texas to provide concrete examples of this community-centered approach to historical archaeology. These case studies illustrate the centrality of digital technologies—e.g., GIS (geographic information systems), GPR (ground penetrating radar), LiDAR (light detection and ranging), photogrammetry, and VR (virtual reality)—in revealing new historical truths that facilitate public dialogue and engagement. By examining the intersections between technology, community, and historical memory, González-Tennant seeks to contribute to ongoing conversations about the role of archaeology in promoting restorative justice and reconciliation.

An Anti-Slavery Treatise from Medieval Iraq
A lecture by Kristina Richardson (University of Virginia)
Wednesday, April 15, 6 pm

In 869 CE, thousands of East African agricultural slaves rebelled in the southern Iraqi city of Basra and formed an independent state that fell to the Abbasids fourteen years later. A generation or two after, a small collective of Muslim philosophers based in Basra composed a revolutionary, anti-slavery treatise. In this lecture, Kristina Richardson will trace the development of abolitionist philosophies from the ninth-century slave revolt to the tenth-century treatise and beyond, offering an original excavation of medieval abolitionist thought.

Select External Events

Weaving Histories into Futures: Art – People – Place
Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
Monday, April 27, 6 pm
A roundtable discussion with Maia Nuku (curator for the arts of Oceania at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Dare Turner (curator of Indigenous art at Brooklyn Museum, BGC MA ’17)

Maia Nuku will share insights into a ten-year project that involved the complete overhaul and construction of new galleries for the Arts of Oceania in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her presentation will trace how the galleries were reframed conceptually, how they now emphasize connectivity in the context of global and local histories, and how the redesign elevates the equally critical arts of storytelling, oratory, and performance alongside Oceania’s dynamic visual arts. In this new framing, the galleries offer different perspectives on Oceanic art to both local and international visitors in ways that reach deep into the region’s past while also centering its ongoing agency in the present. Curator Dare Turner will then offer comments on Dr. Nuku’s presentation and project, opening the floor to a discussion on the role and relevancy of museums in the twenty-first century with regard to Indigenous arts. Are they living, expansive archives of Indigenous knowledge? Or outdated relics of colonial pasts? Explore how local curators and museums in New York City are reframing Indigenous arts across the globe and how their histories continue to weave together the future. The moderator for the roundtable will be Anthony Meyer, assistant professor of Indigenous arts of the Americas at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU.

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.