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).

Graduate Internship:
I completed two internships during my MA program. First, at the New York City Archaeological Repository. Second, in the Cooper Hewitt’s curatorial department.

Digital Project Requirement:
I contributed to the first digital prototype of the 2022 virtual exhibition Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest. I was part of the design team and also created an individual page dedicated to the use of natural and aniline dyes in North American Southwest textiles.

Qualifying Paper:
Seafaring Treasures: Latin America and the Transpacific Trade

Describe one surprising discovery during your QP research:
As a woman of both Indigenous and Spanish descent, I believed my ancestry was defined by transatlantic migrations and the relationship of the Americas with Europe. Thanks to my QP research, I discovered that Latin America’s relationship with Asia during the early modern period was equally influential and long-lasting, impacting our foodways, language, material culture, and definitions of luxury and beauty to this day. I was excited to see the agency of often victimized communities, such as Indigenous craftsmen, reflected in hybrid designs that combined Asian and Indigenous imagery. This hybridity symbolized a thriving and prosperous trade that mostly benefited mixed-race merchants and craftsmen, as opposed to the transatlantic trade, which largely benefited the Spanish crown. Studying the transpacific trade shed a light on a part of my identity that was hidden, and it strengthened my sense of belonging to this continent. If this exhibition becomes a reality, I hope it will do the same for other Latin American visitors.

Next Steps:
I’m about to start a one-year internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Twelve-Month Curatorial Intern in American Decorative Arts.

Afterward, I would like to have a curatorial position in a museum working with Latin American collections, either pre-hispanic, colonial, or contemporary. Some of the institutions I’d love to work in are the Smithsonian, the Getty Center, the Met, or the Museum of Modern Art.