First, a few words about William Wiley
Before we plow into the weekend's (and next week's) great art events, I would like to take a moment to remember first-generation UC Davis art faculty William Wiley. Some of my most fun and interesting days at the UC Davis campus were spent with Wiley. He came back to the university in 2014 to present his iconic "Gong" sculpture to campus. I wrote about that event here. Today, the San Francisco Chronicle published his obituary, which does a great job telling his life story from his days before UC Davis, at UC Davis, and after UC Davis. He was 83, passing away this week after battling Parkinson's disease. There will be more on Wiley later.
I leave you readers with a photo of Wiley's characteristic grin, taken when his Gong was being installed, at that time, in front of the Mondavi Center for Performing Arts. It was later placed outside the newly built Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in 2016.
And, a few words from Wiley's poem, etched on the base that holds the Gong. It applies anytime.
One side for peace
One side for war
One side, what for?—William T. Wiley
And, if you are on or near campus anytime soon, go bang the Gong in his memory. He would really enjoy that.
Karen Nikos-Rose, Arts Blog editor
Shinkoskey presents ‘Telegraph Quartet’ Thursday
Thursday, April 29, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, via UC Davis Music’s YouTube Channel. These concerts are brought to you by the UC Davis Department of Music and the Ann E. Pitzer Center, UC Davis.
Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins
Pei-Ling Lin, Viola | Jeremiah Shaw, Cello
Johannes Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, op. 51
Eleanor Alberga: String Quartet No. 2 (1994)
Each of the composers featured on this program had to make their way out of the shadows of overbearing circumstances that could have eclipsed them. Eleanor Alberga, a Jamaican composer working in England, has made a vital career composing vibrant and colorful works, breaking into the classical scene largely dominated by white European composers of the past. And Brahms, himself one of those European composers of the past, had to overcome his own anxieties created by the legacy of his idol, Beethoven, in order to write this second of three string quartets published in his lifetime. All three composers managed to find a way to allow their voices to be heard clearly despite the pressure bearing down on their personal and professional lives. Each of these works is a poignant testament to the fruits of that struggle, whether the struggle was personal or societal in nature.
Learn more about this program here.
Preview of next week’s concert, Stephanie Lamprea, solo soprano, and works by graduate students
Thursday, May 6, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, via UC Davis Music’s YouTube Channel.
Stephanie Lamprea, solo soprano (artist-in-residence)
Program—
- Emily Joy Sullivan: Stream of Unconsciousness
- Orkun Akyol: can you hear me?
- Joseph Vasinda: Hope Left…
- Addie Camsuzou: Love’s Witness
- Josiah Tayag Catalan: Sages’ Gardens
Read more about this program on the UC Davis Department of Music website.
Alumni work appears in an exhibition at the Verge Center for the Arts
The Verge Center for the Arts as reopened and presenting its first exhibition in a year on-site. “Class of 2020″ showcases the work of the 2020 Ali Youssefi Project (AYP) artists in residence, including alum Brooklyn Johnson (MFA 2019), Vincent Pacheco (MFA 2017), and Muzi Li Rowe (MFA 2017). The show runs through May 9.
The title is a nod to the unique challenges the artists faced pursuing their residencies during quarantine and largely in isolation. The works produced reveal the deep personal explorations that come not just through the luxury of time and space that a residency provides, but also through the additional focus that solitude allows.
Find more information here.
Lunchtime Art Chat with Muzi Li Rowe
Friday, April 30, 12 p.m., free, via Zoom. Register.
Are you tired of eating lunch alone? Join Verge staff member, Justina Martino, for a Lunchtime Art Chat with exhibiting artist and Ali Youssefi Project alum, Muzi Li Rowe (MFA 2017). Muzi will share a slideshow about her art, inspirations and processes and attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions.
Rowe is a visual artist and photographer who works with the physical elements of the camera, observing photography through its own medium. She creates assemblages using obsolete technology and photographs through various processing methods. Often combining analog cameras, historical processing methods and contemporary subjects in her processes, she reflects on the significance of practicing analog media in the current Digital Age.
For more information, go here.
SFMOMA exhibition ‘Bay Area Walls’ features local artists
SFMOMA presents a series of commissions by local artists that consider the COVID-19 pandemic and unfolding crises of 2020. Displayed across three floors (Floors 3, 5, and 7) of the museum, these artworks reveal the far-reaching impact of these events on Bay Area communities. Entry for this exhibition is included with general admission. Get tickets here.
Liz Hernández, one of the featured artists, works with topics related to her upbringing in Mexico City, creating imagery from memories of buildings covered in handmade signs, chaotic trips to markets, and her grandmother’s house. For Conjuro para la sanación de nuestro futuro (A spell for the healing of our future), Hernández brings forth symbols and icons from milagros, or miracle charms, to summon a higher power for our community’s health and future and remind us that we are all connected. (Floor 3, closing Sept. 5, 2022). See video below.
Learn more about the exhibition on SFMOMA’s website.
SFMOMA presents an open studio workshop for educators
with Favianna Rodriguez for educators
Saturday, May 1, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., free, virtual. Apply.
This workshop by SFMOMA introduces teachers to a contemporary artist’s work through images and video resources. Educators will hear directly from artist Favianna Rodriguez and engage in a hands-on activity written by the artist for SFMOMA’s Open Studio project. This virtual professional development workshop is designed for high school teachers, but all K–12 educators are welcome to attend.
More information about the event here.
To learn more about Rodriguez and her work, read our Arts Blog story.
Pence Gallery introduces ‘Art in the Garden’ and a new exhibit this Saturday
This year in lieu of the annual Garden Tour, the Pence is hosting Art in the Garden, a one-day fundraising sale in the Pence courtyard on Saturday, May 1 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Every art form for the garden will be there, including whimsical outdoor sculptures, stepping stones, bird baths, and more. Participating artists include Deb Hill, Sandy Whetstone, Kit Lam, Judy Catambay, Jackie Boutin, Susan Phelan, Marcia Smith, Jeff Nebeker, Marti Schoen and Jill Van Zanten. Purchase fresh bouquets of flowers and decorative potted plants, all in celebration of May Day! Enjoy free seeds donated by Hedgerow Farms.
Upstairs, Natural Abundance is on display from May 1 to May 30, an exhibit of paintings by local artists on the theme of plants and gardens. Participating artists include Chris Kidd, Kristine Bybee, Marie Therese Brown, Deb Hill, Naomi Bautista, Anne Lincoln, Janet Crittenden, Rebecca Ryland, Barbara Smithson, Linda Clark Johnson, Marlene Lee, Karen Fess, Mary Neri King, Cynthia Kroener, Adele Shaw, Kaye Gamper, Pete Scully, and Patris.
For more information about the event, visit the Pence Gallery Website.
Crocker hosts a virtual festival for El Día Del Niño on Saturday
The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, opened this month at 25 percent capacity, per COVID guidelines. As such, events are ticketed and space is limited. They are still having virtual events as well. Read on.
Saturday, May 1, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., free, via Livestream. Register.
Join the Crocker Art Museum for a family-friendly, bilingual (Spanish) celebration of El Día Del Niño/Children’s Day, Mexico's annual holiday that acknowledges and honors children. Connect with your kids — or your own inner child — in a virtual two-hour festival filled with lively performances, engaging art activities, and exciting, special guests from local organizations.
For more information about the event, go here.
Free Sundays
The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento introduces Welcome back Sundays through May 31 where visitors can get free admission to the museum on Sundays. Reserve your spot here. If you can’t make it on these days, the Museum will be open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. All tickets are timed and are available here. To ensure a safe visit, new protocols have been established.
For any further information about opening, visit the Crocker Art Museum’s Website.
Next week in art
Asian Art Museum continues with their virtual ‘Takeout Tuesdays’
Tuesday, May 4, 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., $0-5, via Zoom. Buy tickets here.
The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco presents another Takeout Tuesday where you can “take out” a taste of art and join museum docents and fellow art lovers for interactive lunchtime encounters with selected artworks from the collection. Next week, docent Sheryln Leong will lead “Painting a Tang Court Lady in the 20th Century” where attendees will join Leong in a conversation about the genre of figure painting.
This event is free for members and $5 for non-members. More information here.
The Eugene Lunn Memorial Lecture introduces ‘Stephen Greenblatt: Shakespeare’s Second Chance’
Tuesday, May 4, 4 p.m., free, via Zoom. Register.
In 1610, a 46-year-old Shakespeare wrote The Winter’s Tale, a play about a 46-year-old king who recovers a wife and a daughter whom he believed he had irrevocably lost. He borrowed the plot from a potboiler written years earlier by his old nemesis Robert Greene. Even though very few details actually match Shakespeare’s life, there is something striking in his engagement with a story in which a father, haunted by a sense of guilt for the death of his only son, is reunited years later with the daughter whom he had cast away as an infant. Taking this story over from Greene, Shakespeare radically rewrote its ending to give the wayward husband the opportunity to repair his damaged relationship with his wife. The Winter’s Tale can be viewed as a template for understanding what it takes, according to Shakespeare, to have a second chance in life.
Stephen Greenblatt is an American Shakespearean, literary historian and author. He has served as the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University since 2000. Greenblatt is the general editor of The Norton Shakespeare (2015) and the general editor and contributor to The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Greenblatt is one of the founders of New Historicism, a set of critical practices that he often refers to as "cultural poetics.” He won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2012 and the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2011 for The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
This annual lectureship honors cultural historian Eugene Lunn, who during 20 years as a member of the faculty in the UC Davis Department of History distinguished himself as an esteemed teacher and mentor, and an influential scholar in the field of modern European intellectual history.
This lecture is organized by the UC Davis Department of History. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
Learn more about this event and future programs by Manetti Shrem Museum here.
Department of Art and Art History Visiting Artist Lecture Series features Irina Rozovsky
Thursday, May 6, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., free, via Zoom. Register.
The Visiting Artists Lecture Series is organized by Art Studio faculty and master of fine arts candidates. It invites some of the most compelling practitioners and thinkers working today to UC Davis— including nationally and internationally recognized artists, critics and curators—for public lectures, readings and critiques with students and faculty across disciplines.
For this virtual lecture, the series welcomes artist Irina Rozovsky (b. 1981, Russia) who has exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States and abroad. She has published two monographs, One to Nothing (2011) and Island in my Mind (2015). A monograph of her 10-year project, In Plain Air, is forthcoming this year. Rozovsky’s work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Haggerty Museum of Art, and was featured in MoMA’s Companion Pieces: New Photography 2020. With her husband Mark Steinmetz, she runs The Humid, a photographic project space in Athens, Georgia.
Organized by the Department of Art and Art History. Co-sponsored by the College of Letters and Science and the Manetti Shrem Museum.
Learn more about this event and future programs by Manetti Shrem Museum here.
TANA holds a virtual book launch featuring UC Davis’ Maceo Montoya
Thursday, May 6, 5 p.m., free. Via Zoom. Register.
A book launch for Maceo Montoya, associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies, visual artist and writer, will be held online by Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA). The novel Preparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces: A Novel is an adventurous and satirical story about an artist and features 50 drawings by Montoya. He will be joined by a fiction writer, art critic, and law professor at Loyola Marymount, Yxta Maya Murray where she will read from her novel Art Is Everything. Both books are centered on Latinx artists struggling to make their voices heard.
Art Social Media of the Week
We came across this Instagram post by the UCD Basement Gallery reminding us that their next show Thanks for the Debt is coming up May 15 to May 17.
Media Resources
Top photo: The Telegraph (String) Quartet will perform the UC Davis Shinkoskey Noon Concert, available on the Music Department's YouTube channel. (courtesy photo)