This week, you can view or participate in making live art, see a performance, or you can view an exhibit at the Library online. It’s Veteran’s Day weekend. Don’t miss this story about the UC Davis yellow ribbon project. (The ribbons are on trees in the quad at UC Davis). The Manetti Shrem Museum is open Veteran's Day.

Exhibit at UC Davis Library features revolutionary ‘Betita’ Martinez

A new essay and photography exhibit created, written and curated by UC Davis Chicanx Studies Professor Clarissa Rojas titled “Betita Taught Us We Are the Revolution: The Life and Legacies of Elizabeth ‘Betita’ Martínez” is now on view online.

Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez was a revolutionary. She traversed the Civil Rights Movement, working the frontlines of the Freedom Summer and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), feminist movements, the Chicana and Chicano movements, multiple anti-war movements, socialist movements, movements to end police violence, anti-colonial movements and more.

The exhibition features artwork of Betita by Latinx artists as well as artist statements and essays about her life. Read more about the exhibition and view the artwork here.

Evolve at Mondavi

Friday, Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 13, 2 p.m., Vanderhoef Studio Theatre

Evolve is a new performance experience that explores the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color. Combining pre-recorded videos and live monologues from The New Black Fest’s Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments, a show written by African American men and women about their experience with racial profiling, and Cop Out: Beyond Black, White & Blue, based on interviews with police officers,  Evolve seeks to stimulate conversation in a new way and help us to bridge a seemingly intractable divide. Each performance concludes with a Q&A Session, an integral component of the Evolve experience. 

NOTE: This performance uses prop firearms. They are not real guns, are not pointed at the audience and there will not be gunfire. More information is available by request. Evolve also contains mature language and themes and may not be appropriate for all audiences.

Thursday, Nov. 10

'Persian Serenades of the West' is lecture/recital

Nov. 10, 12:05 – 1 p.m., free, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center

Maryam Farshadfar, piano and Shawyon Malek-Salehi, violin.

Maryam Farshadfar, piano (Ph.D., ethnomusicology, University of Montreal) and Shawyon Malek-Salehi, violin (B.A., music, UC Davis, ‘14) present this lecture-recital, which discusses the history of piano and violin in Iran, and the influence of Persian culture on Western composers from the late 19th century to the present. The recital includes performances of a variety of lesser-known pieces by Western and Persian composers, including pieces by Samin Baghcheban, Gena Branscombe, Henry Cowell, and others.

'Connecting Threads' with S&B Fiber Arts Club at the Manetti Shrem Museum

Thursday, Nov. 10, 2 – 4 p.m., Carol and Gerry Parker Art Studio, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis

Get your fiber art square ready. Celebrate (with food and music) the completion of a community blanket, organized by S&B Fiber Arts Club, to create a snapshot of UC Davis pieced together from individual squares created by fiber arts enthusiasts across campus and inspired by a pair of embroidered portraits by Chiffon Thomas in Young, Gifted and Black.

To participate, create an 8x8-inch square using the fiber art medium of your choice that represents who you are.

Visit the Art Spark page for more art making opportunities.

Find more information and purchase tickets here. 

Next week — save these dates

Pianist, Composer Emmet Cohen Trio performs next weekend; get tickets now

Thursday, Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m.

Vanderhoef Studio Theatre

During the 2020 lockdown, pianist and composer Emmet Cohen developed "Live from Emmet's Place," a series of weekly performances by his trio and special guests livestreamed from his New York apartment via YouTube. The wild success of the series is based in Cohen’s unique ability to build connections with audiences through his harmonically sophisticated, joyful and open-hearted takes on great tunes. That ability to connect extends to his fellow musicians and with the jazz masters that preceded him, as on collaborations with Ron Carter, Bennie Golson and Christian McBride, just to name a few. His status as a major rising star has recently been recognized in the JazzTimes readers’ poll: Cohen was listed as Artist of the Year and Best Pianist, and his trio was listed as Best Acoustic Group. 

Find more information and purchase tickets here.

Painter Christina Quarles is Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecturer

Nov. 17, 4:30 – 6 p.m.

Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art

Christina Quarles is a painter whose work questions assumptions and beliefs surrounding identity and the human figure.

Quarles was the subject of major solo exhibitions at the Frye Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. This year, her work is included in the Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art and the 59th Venice Biennial. She received an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art in 2016 and holds a B.A. from Hampshire College.

Ongoing at UC Davis Museums

Manetti Shrem — A Trio of Exhibits (Open Veteran's Day)

‘Young, Gifted and Black’ 

Read more about this exhibition here. 

Roy De Forest: Habitats for Travelers

First-generation art faculty member and UC Davis Professor Emeritus Roy De Forest (1930-2007).

Loie Hollowell: Tick Tock Belly Clock

Hollowell, a rising star in the art world, grew up in Woodland, California, and is the daughter of longtime UC Davis Professor Emeritus David Hollowell.

Find more information on all three exhibits here.

Open Friday, Nov. 11 (Veterans Day); Closed Thursday, Nov. 24 (Thanksgiving); Open Friday, Nov. 25

Design Museum:

Woven Air: Dhakai Jamdani Textile From Bangladesh, an exhibition of traditional Bangladeshi textiles noted for a weaving technique that creates surface decorations, opened at the UC Davis Design Museum on Oct. 3. https://arts.ucdavis.edu/designmuseum

Her work is currently on view at the Manetti Shrem Museum as part of the exhibition, “Young, Gifted and Black: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art,” on display until Dec. 19. The Thiebaud Endowed Lecture is organized by the Department of Art and Art History and co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.

The Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Lecture in the Theory, Practice and Criticism of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture complements the Visiting Artist Lecture Series and The California Studio, both core components of the Art Studio MFA Program. Wayne Thiebaud’s legacy continues to create art and inspire others after his passing in December 2021. After more than 40 years of teaching and service at UC Davis, his influence will be felt by many future generations, thanks to a $500,000 endowment from the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation. Read more here.

A Christmas Story comes to Woodland Opera House

Nov. 18 – Dec. 11, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoir of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie in his quest for a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the Christmas tree. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher – Miss Shields, and even a department store Santa Claus! The response from each is a resounding, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” The production includes all the hilarious elements from the beloved 1983 movie. It’s the perfect pre-holiday outing for the whole family. 

Reserved seats are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors 62+, and $15 for children 17 and under. Balcony tickets are $18 for adults and $9 for children. Flex Pass specials and group rates are available.

Tickets are on sale online here and at the Box Office (530) 666-9617. Located at 340 Second Street, hours are: Tuesday – Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Due to the nature of the shows and for the comfort of patrons and actors, children under the age of 4 are not allowed.

Woodland Opera House is located at 340 Second Street, Woodland. 

Art Social Media of the Week