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).

Bard College is pleased to announce the appointment of Heather Topcik as dean and director of libraries. In this role, she will be responsible for developing, articulating, and implementing a vision for expanding collaboration among all of the libraries across the Bard network. She will also continue to serve as director of research collections at Bard Graduate Center (BGC) and will be dividing her time between Annandale and New York City.

Since joining Bard Graduate Center in 2001, Topcik has worked to investigate and advance the role of libraries as centers of academic, artistic, and civic life, with a focus on engaging a diverse constituency of patrons in the generative practice of research. As director of BGC’s library, she has collaborated with faculty to develop and adapt collections to evolving curricula and design a program of bibliographic instruction to support graduate researchers. In addition to initiating and overseeing the development of Blacklight, a custom discovery tool built on open-source software, she spearheaded the integration of BGC’s object collection into the library’s search interface along with the creation of an archive documenting the institution’s exhibition history. In 2017, she created the BGC library’s artist in residence program, inviting visual and performing artists whose practice is grounded in research to use the library collection as a resource and incubator for new work.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Topcik graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in art history and studied textiles and fiber arts at the Oregon School of Arts & Crafts before going on to earn dual master’s degrees in library science and art history from Pratt Institute. Prior to joining Bard Graduate Center as a research librarian, she began her library career at the Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.