Hello Alumni,

We have a number of terrific job opportunities and upcoming events in this issue of the Alumni Newsletter. Thank you to everyone who has been sending in postings; we’re excited to share many of those below. 

BGC has a limited number of passes to The Armory Show, March 4-8 at Piers 90 & 94, with the VIP opening on Wednesday, March 4. Please email angela.prevosto@bgc.bard.edu to make a request.

Finally, it is with a heavy heart that we share that Joseph Berrios (BGC Security Team) passed away on January 25. We have spoken with his wife and expressed our condolences on behalf of the entire BGC family. As we become aware of arrangements, we will share more information.

In the meantime, as always, feel free to continue to email me at alumni@bgc.bard.edu with any jobs or events that might be of interest to your fellow alumni, or share via the BGC Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

Sincerely,
Grace Reff (MA ‘17)
alumni@bgc.bard.edu

Select Career Opportunities

Select Events at BGC

“Making Many Books”: Books as Artefacts in the Medieval Islamicate World
Wednesday, February 5
6 pm
Join Miriam Frenkel for this lecture on the material aspect of the production and consumption of books as manifested mainly in book lists from the Geniza. This is the first lecture in a series titled deliver three lectures in a series entitled “The Matter of Things: Material Culture in the Medieval Islamicate World.”

Symposium—Revealing Communities
The Archaeology of Free African Americans in the Nineteenth Century
Friday, February 7
9 am – 5 pm
This symposium will bring together scholars who have worked on nineteenth-century free African American communities. Presenters will explain what their research reveals about these communities and will collectively discuss what these communities, in turn, might reveal to us about living in our own divided time.

Texts and Textiles The Cultural Meaning of Clothing and Ornaments in the Geniza Society
Wednesday, February 12
6 pm
In her second lecture in the series entitled, “The Matter of Things: Material Culture in the Medieval Islamicate World,” Miriam Frenkel will discuss the cultural, social, and economic significance of clothing and jewellery in medieval Islamic and Jewish societies as manifested in wills and trousseau lists from the Geniza and in contemporary Hebrew poetry.

The Sofa: Furnishing Moral Tales in Eighteenth-Century French Painting Lecture
Tuesday, February 18
6 pm
David Pullins talk will link the sofa and its often opulent upholstery to the rise of new domestic spaces and new forms of bodily comportment, while tracing its innovation representations in various images and the contemporary genre subjects and tableaux de mode popularized by Nicolas Lancret and Jean-François de Troy.

Home and Food: The Jewish Home and the Mediterranean Diet as Reflected in the Geniza
Wednesday, February 19
6 pm
In the final lecture in the series, Miriam Frenkel will examine household artefacts such as furniture, cooking utensils, storage vessels, bathing and washing amenities, and illumination implements as they appear in various Geniza documents and in contemporary literature including, responsa, travelogues, and poetry.

Reinventing the Wheel: And Then Some
Tuesday, February 25
6 pm
World-renowned artist Mark Peiser will present his reflections on the postwar studio glass movement and chart the development of his oeuvre in this context and beyond. He will also consider the implications of transparency and opacity in the world of objects, including perceptions of glass as volume, atmosphere, and light.

Symposium—Eileen Gray
New Research and Methodologies
Friday, February 28
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Historians, conservators, curators, and architects who are currently investigating Eileen Gray’s highly versatile career will discuss the range of her architectural projects, her pioneering role as a Parisian gallerist and as an artisan of lacquer, among other topics. The symposium will illuminate the fascinating Parisian milieu of artists, writers, architects, and craftspeople who helped to shape Gray’s groundbreaking ideas on modernism in design and architecture.

Select Events out in the World

Symposium—The Tuxedo Redefined: Formality, Fluidity, and Femininity
Sunday, February 2
11:30 am – 1 pm
The Tuxedo Redefined explores how women have appropriated the tradition of men’s black tie attire—from quotidian dress to high fashion—and the ways in which this influential garment has served as a tool for provocation that can reflect transformative notions of gender, class, and sexual identity. In conjunction with the exhibit, NYU’s Costume Studies program will hold a symposium featuring keynote speaker Chloe Chapin, fashion and cultural historian and PhD candidate in American Studies at Harvard University.

Functional & Alluring: Japanese Bamboo Art
Thursday, February 6
6:30 pm
During this talk at the Japan Society, master bamboo craftsmen Kenichi Otani and Takayuki Shimizu will create a large shikainami basket on-stage, demonstrating the precision and skill that goes into traditional bamboo crafting. The demonstration and talk will be followed by a viewing reception featuring contemporary and traditional beppu bamboo crafts, including works that are being exhibited for the first time in the United States.

36th Annual Small Museum Association Conference
Sunday, February 16 – Tuesday, February 18
The Small Museum Association will host their annual conference at The Hotel in College Park, MD. Sessions will include topics ranging from collections and education to staffing and board issues. This year, the SMA conference will explore the theme, “Honoring the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage: Museums as Catalysts of Social Change.”

It’s in Here: Preservation Box Making Workshop
Thursday, February 13
9:30 am – 12 pm
The Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts is offering this morning workshop in the Drexel Collection of Drexel University to explore the options for preservation appropriate storage of flat and three-dimensional paper and historic artifacts in a drop-front, paper board box. Participants will be practice handling boxes and learn techniques for labeling.

Peek under the Mat: Preservation Hinging for Paper Artifacts
Thursday, February 13
1:30 pm – 4 pm
This afternoon workshop, hosted by The Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts in the Drexel Collection of Drexel University, will address what materials and techniques are necessary for creating safe and attractive housings for paper artifacts and documents. In a hands-on activity, participants will learn the basic principles in assembling matting and framing.