Being cooped up in your house the next few weeks need not leave you artless. Despite the lack of typical holiday shows that happen this month, you can check out these virtual plays, art shows and even cake decorating events to sooth your art-starved souls. Happy weekend! - The Arts Blog
This blog compiled by UC Davis Media Relations Intern Michelle Villagomez
LACMA contemporary art curator is Art Studio visiting artist this week
This lecture series is organized by the Department of Art and Art History and co-sponsored by the UC Davis College of Letters and Science and the Manetti Shrem Museum
Join artist Rita Gonzalez will be visiting on Thursday, Dec. 10, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Register here.
Rita Gonzalez is the Terri and Michael Smooke curator and department head of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where she has curated Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement; Asco: Elite of the Obscure; Lost Line: Contemporary Art from the Collection; Agnés Varda in Californialand, In Production: Art and the Studio System, Christian Marclay: Sound Stories, among other exhibitions and programs. Gonzalez curated L.A. Exuberance: New Gifts by Artists, an exhibition that featured sixty gifts and marked the culmination of LACMA’s 50th anniversary year. From 1997–1999, she was the Lila Wallace Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. She was on the curatorial team for Prospect 3 New Orleans and part of the curatorial teams for the first Current L.A. Biennial in 2016 and the Gwangju Bienale in 2018. Gonzalez was one of the 2018 Center for Curatorial Leadership fellows.
Digital age drama staged in Theatre and Dance this weekend
The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents this innovative contemporary drama spotlighting five students who struggle with their identities in the digital age. Free. The theatre production made for these times will be on the virtual stage 10 and 12 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on all days. [re: CLICK] is a techno-thriller that begins when a young woman is raped at a fraternity and ends in a future where corporations promise a new body with the swipe of a screen.
This premiere of the online version of the play is a co-production with the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University. The play was written by Jacqueline Goldfinger, the Granada Artist-in-Residence in the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance, and is co-directed by Margaret Laurena Kemp, assistant professor at UC Davis, and Roger Ellis, assistant professor at Northwestern University. Register here by entering your email.
Davis Shakespeare Festival holds digital program
The Davis Shakespeare Festival Digital Internship Program is an educational and experiential learning platform for university students and recent graduates seeking to broaden their horizons as future arts leaders. This semester’s program includes 17 participants from universities throughout the country and Canada. Their culminating project is an online theatre festival.
Participants pitched, voted for, and produced this festival featuring three plays:
Desdemona by Toni Morrison, Lyrics by Rokia Traoré. Get your tickets here.
Asking for a friend by Anaya Green. Get tickets here.
Arlington by Enda Walsh. Get your tickets here.
The festival starts Thursday, Dec. 10 with Asking for a Friend at 6 p.m. and ends Sunday, Dec. 13 with Arlington at 6 p.m. The plays will repeat throughout the weekend. Look at the full festival schedule here.
Crocker Art Museum goes virtual with Atomic Cocktail
Dec. 13, 10 a.m., free for members and $5 for nonmembers, via zoom. Purchase tickets and register here.
Travel coast to coast from the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art to the Crocker Art Museum with Todd Schorr’s iconic Pop Surrealist exhibition Atomic Cocktail. In Conversation: A Tale of Two Schorrs, gain insider’s knowledge of what goes into creating a traveling show from Virginia MOCA Curator Heather Hakimzadeh and Curator of Education Truly Matthews, in conversation with the Crocker’s Houghton Kinsman. The wide-ranging discussion will offer attendees a unique glimpse behind the curtain of exhibition-based museum collaborations.
For more information, click here.
Sacramento Theatre Co. offers returning Cabaret Series online
Sacramento Theatre Co.'s Cabaret Series presents We Need A Little Christmas: Broadway Sings for the Holidays! Enjoy the show from the comfort of your home while the performers sing some of your favorite holiday-themed songs from Broadway musicals like Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Meet Me in St. Louis), It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Miracle on 34th Street), and White Christmas. The show will also include lesser-known holiday songs from Broadway shows. For more details about the event, click here.
This Cabaret will perform from the cabaret stage and other magical locations. Tickets are $25 and you will receive a link on the day of the performance to watch from home.
You can stream the show either of these times:
Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.
The Toy Show — a holiday exhibition
Archival Gallery in Sacramento will present THE TOY SHOW, a year-end holiday group show on exhibition Dec. 10 to Dec. 30. "Decembers at Archival Gallery are a special time “when we ask each of our artists to create new works for the holidays in their primary medium of painting, sculpture, raku, fabrics, collage, glass, pastels, and more.” The artists are free to interpret their vision of “toys” without boundaries." In addition to the group exhibition, the gallery displays its collection of vintage Santas in the front window for guests and drivers on Folsom Boulevard to enjoy. These light-up displays are a popular attraction for fans of holiday lights.
COVID-19 UPDATE: We do not anticipate a public Second Saturday reception for this exhibition. Visitors are welcome during normal business hours with no appointment needed and must wear mask or face coverings at all times. More about the gallery here.
To learn more about the featured artists, go here.
Virtual Wednesdays at de Young Museum
Virtual Wednesdays at the Fine Arts Museums is free and takes place every Wednesday at 5 p.m. Engage virtually with the Fine Arts Museums as they work to build empathy and break stereotypes, supporting new ways of thinking about and engaging with art. Learn more about the programs here.
To see past Virtual Wednesdays program, go here.
Next Week, The de Young Open: Artists Panel, hosted by curator Jill D'Alessandro, Dec. 16, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., free, via Youtube. Learn more here.
The de Young Open exhibits the works of 762 Bay Area artists. Now that the museum is closed, you can view the 877 artworks in the comfort of your home in this web gallery.
Mondavi Center HomeStage presents Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol next weekend
In this world premiere online event for audiences of all ages, world-renowned performance collective Manual Cinema brings holiday cheer with a live-streamed visually stunning adaptation of Charles Dickens’ timeless A Christmas Carol.
An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been recruited to present her late husband Joe’s annual Christmas Carol puppet show from the isolation of her Chicago apartment — over a Zoom call while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under lockdown. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family’s call transforms into a stunning cinematic adaptation of Dickens’s classic ghost story. Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol features hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes, and a live original score in an imaginative re-invention of a cherished holiday tradition. Learn more about the event on the Mondavi Website.
Get your tickets here. $5 for UC Davis students and $15 for regular price.
The online event will be next weekend, Dec. 18-20 (times vary):
Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 - 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020 - 5 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020 - 4 p.m.
Just for fun: UC Davis Nailed-It baking event
Tune in to a zoom event on Thursday, Dec.17 at noon to vote on the best re-creations of a rainbow Egg Head inspired crepe cake and cake pops created by Chef Kue Her, senior executive chef at Housing and Dining Services. You will also receive some baking tips from Chef Kue Her. Register to enjoy the show and be a judge.
More details about the event here.