The UC Davis Department of Art and Art History will launch its 2023–24 public lecture series with talks by artists Katya Grokhovsky (Oct. 12) and Sky Hopinka (Oct. 26) at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. The talks are free and open to the public.
One of UC Davis’ most famous artist alumnae and an influential UC Davis professor emeritus will have major exhibitions at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art this fall. Both shows open Oct. 1 as part of the museum’s fall celebration from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Admission to the museum is free.
The Gorman Museum of Native American Art at the University of California, Davis — unique in focusing on, exhibiting and collecting contemporary Native American art — will reopen in a new, greatly expanded location with a celebratory weekend Sept. 22 and 23 (Friday and Saturday). The occasion also marks the museum’s 50th anniversary.
“Black mustard” is what people call the thick oil that is often visible — particularly at sunset — on the surface of Newtown Creek, which borders Queens and Brooklyn in New York City. The estimated 30 million gallons of oil is one of many toxins in the creek, an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. This would seem an unlikely place to not only inspire, but to also be the venue, for an opera, but it is. The opera "Newtown Odyssey," by UC Davis professor Kurt Rohde, visual artist Marie Lorenz and writer Dana Spiotta, is being premiered this weekend.
Alumnus Alan Templeton (B.A., art history and psychology, ‘82), a longtime supporter of arts and humanities programs at UC Davis, recently started a program to give an art history graduate student a behind the-scenes-look at the art world. Second year master's student Lawrence Stallman joined Templeton for London Art Week, visiting museums and galleries, meeting with curators, collectors and professors, and attending art auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
With the movie “Oppenheimer” drawing big crowds to see the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the development of the atomic bomb, it’s a good time to catch up with UC Davis alumnus Stephen Whisler (B.A., art, ‘76), who created many works connected to the bombs dropped on Japan.
Nicolás Alberto Dosman has joined the UC Davis Department of Music as director of choirs and assistant professor of teaching. He will lead the Concert Choir, a large mixed ensemble, and the Chamber Singers, a select ensemble of 16 to 24 students. He will lead his first concert at UC Davis on Dec. 8.
UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May presented the 2023 UC Davis Medal, the university’s highest honor, to international arts patron and philanthropist Maria Manetti Shrem at the afternoon commencement ceremony on June 18 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The award presentation was followed by a ceremonial tree planting on the UC Davis campus and a dinner at the UC Davis Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
Submissions are being accepted for the 2023 Maurice Prize for Fiction, a $10,000 award for the best novel written by a UC Davis graduate who has not yet published or been accepted for publication by the contest deadline. Submissions are limited to novels; no short story collections.
At this year’s Arts and Humanities Graduate Exhibition, on view June 8-25 at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, students in history, performance studies and English as well as design and art will take part. A free, public opening celebration will take place June 8 from 6 to 9 p.m. Art history students will present their research the following day. In all, 30 Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts and doctoral students are participating.