Bard Graduate Center is a research institute for advanced, interdisciplinary study of diverse material worlds. We support the innovative scholarship of our faculty and students as well as resident fellows, guest curators and artists, and visiting speakers.

Photo by Fresco Arts Team.

Our Public Humanities + Research department focuses on making scholarly work widely available and accessible through the coordination of the fellowship program and public programming that combines academic research with exhibition-related events. Across the institution—from the classroom to the gallery, from publications to this website—we utilize digital media to facilitate and share original research. This section outlines current programming and provides a repository for past scholarly content.

This series consists of conversations between artists associated with the studio glass movement in the United States. Glass centers such as UrbanGlass, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Pilchuck Glass School are a focus. Moderated by Barb Elam, co-organizer of the Voices in Studio Glass History digital exhibition.

Glass New York
Richard Wilfred Yelle and Joe Upham, co-founders of New York Experimental Glass Workshop (now UrbanGlass), discuss their time together at MassArt, forming the Workshop at its first location on Great Jones Street in Manhattan, and their early public glassblowing demonstrations.

Building Community in Studio Glass
Toots Zynsky and Therman Statom reflect on their work, collaborating with each other, and their time at RISD with Dale Chihuly. They also discuss their community engagement projects.

Women in Glass
Flora C. Mace & Joey Kirkpatrick and Laura Donefer reflect on women’s experiences at Pilchuck Glass School, tell glass artists’ travel stories, and discuss working during Covid-19.

Northwest Coast Glass and Indigeneity
Preston Singletary discusses his development as a glass artist and making work that fuses the traditions of European glassblowing with his Tlingit cultural heritage.

This project was made possible by support from The Paul and Irene Hollister Endowment at Bard Graduate Center. Paul Hollister (1918–2004) was an influential critic of contemporary studio glass and glass historian. Irene Hollister (1920–2016) was a philanthropist, advocate for glass scholarship, and founding administrator of the Association for Computing Machinery.