Art History

Making Collections Matter:
A Symposium
Fri, Sept 23, 2022
10 am–4:30 pm

This day-long symposium focuses on the historical formation, current uses, and future possibilities of modern and contemporary art museum collections. Bringing together curators and scholars who are engaged with and thinking critically about museum collecting practices, the sessions consider how collections are built, who they serve, and how they can be sustainably stewarded now and in the future.

3–4:30 pm | Session 3: Collecting for the Future
What are the ethical implications and practical considerations of building and caring for collections now and in the future?

• Naomi Beckwith, Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, Guggenheim Museum
• Cheryl Finley, Inaugural Director, Atlanta University Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Spelman College, and Associate Professor, Cornell University, and Amy Whitaker, Associate Professor of Visual Arts Administration, New York University
• Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Executive Director & Chief Curator, Forge Project
• Alex Kitnick, Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College 
• Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Chief Curator and Deputy Director, Curatorial and Collections, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

For more info: https://whitney.org/events/making-collections-matter-a-symposium

Prof. Susan Aberth, Art History and Visual Culture Program, and collaborator CCS-graduate Gilbert Vicario have just won a $50,000 Warhol Foundation Curatorial Research Grant for their exhibition on tracing esotericism in the Americas at the Phoenix Art Museum.

For more information:

(https://warholfoundation.org/2022/06/29/the-andy-warhol-foundation-for-the-visual-arts-announces-spring-2022-grantees/).

Congratulations to Alex Penn, Class of 2022 for winning the Jean French Art History and Visual Culture Travel Award, an award given annually to a student working on their senior project in the Art History and Visual Culture Program for expenses relating to their senior project.

Wednesday, December 1st, 2021 at 5:30 in RKC Lobby, the Class of 2022 exhibited posters reflecting their work to date on their senior projects.
Two Alum, Hannah Sage Kay ’17 and Liam Nolan ’19 talked about their experiences since graduating from Bard.
The event was an opportunity for seniors to become familiar with each other’s subjects and to visualize their project at midpoint.
The evening event was well attended and a good time was had by all.

Education Coordinator

The Thomas Cole National Historic site is now seeking a full-time Education Coordinator. They will work across the Education department to coordinate visitor and programmatic operations. This is a full time, year round position. Work schedule from May-October is Wednesday-Sunday; and Monday-Friday from November-April. In addition, special projects/events may take place on weekends year round. Reports to the Manager of Visitor Engagement. Compensation includes benefits and salary of $32,000 per year.

Coordination of Administrative Aspects of the Seasonal Touring Operations:

·   Ensure that the visitor experience runs smoothly. Guide the “Go-To Person” to solve problems.

·   Assist the Manager of Visitor Engagement with the interviewing/hiring of new guides for each season.

·   Train new and returning educators on logistical aspects of touring operation

·   Schedule guides so that the site is adequately staffed. Problem-solve when guides cancel their shift. Distribute the schedule to all staff who need to see it.

·   Oversee group tour reservations and scheduling staff. Problem-solve the way groups are guided through the site

·   Prepare for the opening and closing of each tour season. Tasks include setting up the seasonal staff office space, updating the tour manual, updating the Site’s phone messages and website regarding hours/offerings, and assisting the Manager of Visitor Engagement with other preparations

·   Lead daily tour staff meetings

·   Become a trained member of the tour staff and provide support, including filling in for last minute guide cancellations. For the first year, approximately 3 days per week. [See Museum Educator position description]

Coordination of School/Youth Programs:

·   Oversee multi-year project to create an online experience for youth audiences. Schedule meetings, oversee research, and be a key member of the project team

·   Oversee visit reservations and scheduling staff. Problem-solve the way students are guided through the site

·   Teach lesson plans/activities to students, both during on-site visits and by making trips to school classrooms

·   Be the primary contact for schools and teachers. Nurture newly formed relationships with schools and other youth organizations and develop new ones.

·   Maintain the Education tab on the TCNHS website

·   Lead group tours around the Site that consist primarily of children or students

·   Maintain a record system that summarizes relationship with schools/educators.

·   Train Educators how best to engage younger students, and how to lead lesson plans in classrooms and on site

·   Explore potential ways to connect with schools and youth audiences.

 Implementation of Educational Events/ Programs:

·   Work collaboratively with curatorial and interpretive teams to organize and implement various educational events and programs, such as lectures, public panels/talks with guest curators and presenting artists, and other educational programs. Create checklist of tasks for each and ensure all tasks are completed.

·   With Site Curator and Fellowship Director, plan and coordinate an annual meet and greet welcome Fellows event, Fellow’s public presentation event, and help with arrangements for monthly educational and professional site visits for the Cole Fellows.

·   Along with entire staff, assist with other events throughout the year as needed (such as fundraising events).

Professor Susan L. Aberth wrote Women, Modern Art, and the Esoteric: Agnes Pelton in Context
in Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist,  a Phoenix Art Museum/Hirmer publication.

Congratulations to Olga Touloumi, Bard College, Art History and Sabine von Fischer

Each semester the Bard College Art History Program sponsors
a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for all students enrolled in an art history course.  This semester it is
Sunday, February 26, 2017

Tickets Available
See Jeanette McDonald, Fisher Annex 112

Curated by the students of ArtH 211
under the supervision of Professor Susan Aberth

Exhibition in the Stevenson Library Vitrines

November 29- December 29, 2016

Please come visit the camera obscura set up behind the campus center by ARTH 211, “Sightseeing.” The class built the camera obscura with a grant from the Experimental Humanities program. If there is sun, the camera will produce a beautiful “natural” image, made by light rays reflecting from objects outside the box onto its interior surface.

The camera obscura will be set up until Sunday (12/4) afternoon.