Simultaneous Saturdays

The Bard Graduate Center Gallery produces multiple exhibitions and publications each year, serving as a vital center of learning and a catalyst for engagement in the interrelated disciplines of decorative arts, design, and material culture. The gallery is celebrated in the museum world for its longstanding legacy of landmark projects dedicated to significant—yet often understudied—figures and movements in the history of decorative arts and design; these exhibitions and publications typically represent the definitive intervention on the artists and objects they investigate. BGC Gallery is also committed to generating and supporting a vast range of diverse presentations, small and large, that challenge traditional approaches to object inquiry; these examinations of material culture explore the human experience as manifest in our creation and use of “things” of all kinds. Whether originating in internal research and expertise, or in collaboration with external subject specialists, these endeavors prioritize rigorous scholarship while seeking to adhere to the field’s highest standards in production and design.

Enjoy activities for children and adults on Simultaneous Saturdays, named in honor of Sonia Delaunay’s own term for her practice, Simultanism, which describes both her use of bright, contrasting colors and her desire to apply her art to all aspects of life. Each Simultaneous Saturday includes all of the events below.

11 am–12 pm
Drag Story Hour features glamorous drag artists, Sonia Delaunay-themed read-alouds, and art and coloring activities for kids. Neurodiverse and neurotypical visitors are welcome; visual schedules, multi-sensory learning, and movement are incorporated.
Free for all; gallery admission is not required. Space is limited; please reserve tickets in advance.

Reserve tickets here.

12:30–2 pm and 2:30–4 pm
Drop in to the Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s Atelier Simultané, where book artist Kitty Maryatt will discuss and demonstrate the art of pochoir, a technique practiced by Sonia Delaunay. Maryatt uses stencils to apply layer upon layer of pigment, painstakingly recreating La Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France. The work, a collaboration between Delaunay and poet Blaise Cendrars, is considered one of the most important artists’ books ever to have been produced.

Kitty Maryatt, former Director of the Scripps College Press and Assistant Professor of Art at Scripps College in Claremont, California, taught Typography and the Book Arts at Scripps College for thirty years. Maryatt instituted a program in 1986 of collaborative book editions created each semester by the students, printed by letterpress and hand-bound by the students. Descriptions of the sixty limited edition letterpress books were published in 2016 in a bibliography of the Press, called Sixty Over Thirty. Since retiring from teaching in 2016, she has been working on her grand project at Two Hands Press (established in 1974) to re-create the 1913 La Prose du Transsibérien by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay with original pochoir and letterpress in an edition of 150 copies, plus 30 copies hors commerce. Since 1981, she has published and bound her own artist books, most recently Figure of Speech.

Free with gallery admission.

1:30–2:30 pm and 3–4 pm
Join a tour of Sonia Delaunay: Living Art led by a Bard Graduate Center gallery educator. Tours focus on a curated selection of objects in the exhibition that you can study alongside BGC students and scholars. Linger after the tour to explore the exhibition at your own pace.

Free with gallery admission.

Tickets

Gallery Hours