Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

The BGC is a winner of the 2009 AAM Museum Publications Design Competition.

First prize for fund-raising/membership materials went to the silent auction catalogue and invitation promoting the gala “The Buffet Party, Entertaining with American Ingenuity”. Michael Schnepf, art director, and Han Vu, digital technology designer, designed the materials. The calendar of events and gallery programs for the exhibition, Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick, also designed by Schnepf, received an honorable mention.

A complete list of winners is available on the association’s website (www.aam-us.org), and the competition will be featured in a special section in the July/August 2010 issue of Museum. The AAM will also display the first- and second-prize winners at the convention center during the 2010 AAM Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo™ in Los Angeles, May 23–26.