Newsmakers

Photography Program Director and Susan Weber Professor in the Arts Stephen Shore was profiled by the New York Times. Photographer and Bard alumnus Gus Aronson ’20 shot a video that accompanies the profile of Shore, who has headed the photography program at Bard for over 40 years. The profile celebrates the publication of his new collection Early Work, containing photography he took from the ages of 12 to 17. The photos show Shore’s early street photography in Manhattan, shaped by inspirations like Walker Evans and Bruce Davidson; “I was looking a lot and had a lot of influences,” Shore says. Several years later, at 24, Shore would have a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Shore has had many exhibitions around the world since then, in Milan, Cologne, Chicago, and more. He has taught in Bard’s Photography Program since 1982. He says these early photos reflect concerns he’s addressed through his entire practice: “I see a formal awareness from the beginning. I’m framing, not pointing.”

Jazz pianist and Bard College alumnus Ran Blake ’60 was interviewed by the Boston Globe for an article covering the artist’s career, which has spanned more than 60 years, and how he at 90 is preparing to perform a solo concert in Brookline, MA, this September. Blake, whose career has yielded over 40 recording credits on jazz albums, has also spent over 40 years teaching jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC), where he cofounded and led the Department of Third Stream, now called the Department of Contemporary Improvisation. “Ran gave me the freedom to find myself in jazz standards,” said Portuguese singer Sara Serpa, who studied with Blake at NEC and collaborated on an album with him, adding that he “really gave me permission to find myself in the songs, to create my own stories.”Blake also spent years bringing music programming to the public as NEC’s community services director, telling the Globe, “It was very important to send music to where the people are and encourage them to play.”
 

Associate Professor of Photography Tanya Marcuse was interviewed by her former student Emma Ressel ’16 in Lenscratch. They discussed how Marcuse’s work is inspired by the ecology of the Hudson Valley, with her projects ranging from photographs of local apple trees to images of fantastical structures she built with natural material gathered in the region. They also discussed their individual approaches to photographing nature. In photography “sometimes things truly, fully come together,” Marcuse said. “You get a random reward, which isn’t so random, because it’s about continually showing up and paying attention.”

Ressel was a Lenscratch Student Prize winner in 2024. She attended Bard’s Photography Program and has held solo exhibits in New Mexico and is on the shortlist for the 2025 Aperture Portfolio Prize. Marcuse has taught at Bard since 2012. She recently completed her 14-year, three-part project Fruitless | Fallen | Woven, inspired by the Biblical story of the fall from Eden.

Sonita Alizada ’23, a rapper and human rights activist, will embark on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford beginning this fall. She joins Ronan Farrow ’04 as the second Rhodes winner from Bard College in Annandale. (Nawara Alaboud ’23, originally from Syria, is the first Bard College Berlin student to receive a Rhodes Scholarship.)

Alizada, who double-majored in human rights and music, says Bard played a “crucial” part in her award. “The faculty here have been incredibly supportive, offering guidance, mentorship, and resources that helped me refine my academic and professional goals. They provided encouragement and constructive feedback throughout my application process and helped me navigate each step with confidence.”

She looks forward to continuing her work supporting Afghan women and children by combining “academic research with practical impact.” She looks forward to taking public policy classes at Oxford and focusing specifically on women and children's rights. “I’m deeply honored to receive the Rhodes scholarship, [and] I hope to bring back insights that can further support vulnerable communities,” she said.

Max Maslansky ’99, artist and Bard College alumnus, was interviewed by ArtNews for the article “Why Are So Many Artists Becoming Therapists?” Emily Watlington writes about the long connection between artists and psychotherapy, questioning why so many are talking about being in both careers now and noting that, “the practices involve many of the same skills: soul-searching, analyzing, and embracing complexities of life that cannot be easily resolved.”

Maslansky was interviewed along with three other artists about his choice to become a therapist. Since graduating from Bard’s Studio Arts program, his work has included paintings, photography, and sculpture. He went back to school in his 40s for counseling after deciding he wanted a stable career that could also give back to society. Asked how working as a therapist changed his art, he reflected, “It’s made my practice feel much more open-minded and expansive, less concerned with distinct purposes and goals in mind.”

In an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Bard alumna Sarah Rogers Morris MA ’13 examines how the practice of visual comparison in art allows us to cultivate thinking skills that are vital to public and political life. Drawing on her memories of art history lectures—in which a projector was used to beam two images side by side upon the wall—Morris posits that the learning process of analyzing two visually disparate entities engenders a capacity for a larger search for coherence across disparity and differences in an increasingly polarized world. “Within the classroom, comparing works of art based on formal characteristics encourages students to find meaning in the space where things that do not belong together meet,” Morris writes. “This activity translates beyond the classroom as a lesson in pluralism, a way of engaging in the public sphere where people, who by nature act and think differently from one another, must coexist and work together to build a world in common.” Morris holds an MA in the history of design, decorative arts, and material culture from the Bard Graduate Center. 

Susan D’Agostino ’91, Bard alumna and former Language and Thinking faculty member, has released the first installment of her new column, The Public Scholar, to be published monthly in Inside Higher Ed. The column will focus on helping academics share their expertise with the wider world by giving practical advice for getting their research into leading newspapers and magazines, discussing how to navigate the publishing world, and sharing other strategies for experts in their fields to shape public conversations that matter. “Academia often trains scholars to seek approval—through grants, press offices and peer-reviewed publications,” D’Agostino writes in her new column. “But the reality is that institutional support often follows after a scholar gains visibility. You already have the credentials to write for the public in your area of expertise. Now you need the courage and practical tips for doing so.”