Golden West Winds perform at Pitzer Center today

Oct. 7, 2021, 12:05 p.m. — 1 p.m., free

Shinkoskey Noon Concert, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center

The Golden West Winds is part of the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West from Travis Air Force Base, California. Composed of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, this ensemble supports a wide variety of musical events ranging from military ceremonies and patriotic shows to educational programs and recitals of original works for woodwind quintet. To support these events the Golden West Winds plays music of all styles including marches, jazz and classical music.

The program features works by UC Davis graduate student composers and a professor, including Gustav Holst’s Jupiter from The Planets, Antonín Dvořák’s Selections from String Quartet No. 12 (“American”), Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane, Jeff Scott’s Oblivion, Laurie San Martin, UC Davis professor of music: Golden West Miniatures, and Valerie Coleman’s Umoja.

Tailoring every show to its audience, the Golden West Winds perform a variety of different community relations concerts throughout the Western United States. They have performed at schools such as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Redlands. The ensemble’s recital show was featured in 2012 at the Camerata Musica concert series as well as the College of the Siskiyous Performing Arts Series. The members of the Golden West Winds are all professional Air Force musicians working in support of Air Force and Air Mobility Command official military recruiting and community relations objectives.

The event is free. Proof of COVID vaccination or a negative COVID test will be required at the door. Please take a moment to read the latest information on attending events.

A direct link to the live stream can be found here.

Have a look: C.N. Gorman  relocation progressing

The C.N. Gorman Museum has given us a progress report on their exciting construction project happening at the location of the former Nelson Gallery, and before that, University Club, along Old Davis Road. The museum, which will be located near a primary entrance to campus when construction is complete, is dedicated to the creative expressions of Native American artists and artists of diverse cultures and histories. It is unique for its commitment to exhibiting works by living Indigenous artists, particularly within an educational institution. Walk or drive by and take a look. 

The latest construction not only enhances the building to attain the high standards of a fine art museum, but also includes improvements to the whole building (built in the 1970s) to meet modern compliance with seismic work, improved accessibility, mechanical systems and asbestos removal.

Check out the museum website to see more photos of construction and a short video that includes a walk-through just days before demolition.

This Weekend At A Glance ...

• Empyrean Ensemble, Friday, Pitzer Center, UC Davis
• Classical Concert, Sunday, Pence Gallery, Davis
• And Much More! From museum exhibitions to lectures, starting Thursday.

Etttun to give artist lecture tonight

 

Tamar Ettun will give a public lecture on Thursday, Oct. 7, 4:30 — 6 p.m. in the Community Education Room at the Manetti Shrem Museum on the UC Davis campus. Ettun, who is currently a teaching artist in residence for The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residence at UC Davis, is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. She uses sculpture, video and performance to explore shared human experience, most recently focusing on empathy and compassion fatigue. Her work is often grounded in movement-study sculptures created from hand-dyed parachute fabric. 

Ettun has recently had exhibitions and performances at Pioneer Works, Art Omi Sculpture Garden and PERFORMA. She has received awards and fellowships from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, Chinati Foundation and MacDowell Fellowship. Ettun is also the founder of the artist collective and social engagement project The Moving Company. More about the California Studio in this story here.

Ongoing Exhibitions, Virtual and In-person

The fall schedule includes a diverse roster of exhibitions at UC Davis

• "Wayne Thiebaud Influencer: A New Generation" celebrates the legacy of the 100-year-old UC Davis professor emeritus by highlighting 19 contemporary artists who have been inspired by Thiebaud as a fellow painter, including a selection of his former students. On view through Nov. 12.
• "Arnold Joseph Kemp: I would survive. I could survive. I should survive." This solo exhibition of four works by the Chicago-based artist features paintings, sculpture and photography that asks us to consider the sensorial gestures that form the self and a people, the personal and the political, the historical and the present. On view through Nov. 12.
• "Working Proof: Wayne Thiebaud as Printmaker" Drawn from the university’s Fine Arts Collection, numerous printing “proofs,” many worked by hand, underscore the importance of printmaking in Professor Thiebaud’s artistic practice. On view through Nov. 12.
• "New Flavors: Collected at the Candy Store" is inspired by the beloved Folsom gallery that operated from 1962-92 and gave many greater Sacramento area artists their start. On view through Oct. 24.

“Waiting for Spring,” 2018, monotype on paper, 30”x22” is part of the "Feathered Relations" exhibit. (Courtesy image)

'Feathered Relations: Works by Marwin Begaye'
C.N. Gorman Museum (virtual)

 “Feathered Relations” explores sacred Indigenous beliefs around birds and their link to nature. Begaye's prints and paintings place a variety of birds in the foreground, depicting them naturally, but also existing on a higher plane. This exhibition is based on his show that was on display at the Gorman when the pandemic forced its closure.  Begaye (Diné) includes prints, wood blocks and multimedia works to create a conceptual homage to birds. For the artist, birds are about our relationships — to nature, to one another, to culture.

Empyrean Ensemble: 'New Music from Davis' Friday

Friday, Oct. 8, 2021,  7 p.m. — 8:30 p.m.

Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, Sam Nichols, director

The program features works by UC Davis graduate student composers and professor, including Mika Pelo, UC Davis Professor of Music: Sunken Cathedrals​, Trey Makler’s Handle with Care, Ryan Suleiman’s vox mysterium, Aida Shirazi’s Crystalline Trees, Addie Camsuzou’s Cautionary Tales, and Emily Joy Sullivan’s Polaroids.

Musicians include Matilda Hofman, conductor and UC Davis lecturer in music, Peter Josheff, clarinet, Tod Brody, flute, Terrie Baune, violin, Thalia Moore, cello, Ellen Ruth Rose, viola and UC Davis lecturer in music, Chris Froh, percussion and UC Davis lecturer in music, and Michael Seth Orland, piano and UC Davis lecturer in music

The event is $12 for students and children and $24 for adults. Proof of COVID vaccination or a negative COVID test will be required at the door. Please take a moment to read the latest information on attending music events.

Classical Concert at the Pence Gallery Sunday

Sunday, Oct. 10, 1:30 p.m. — 2:30 p.m., free

Enjoy a concert outside in the Pence Gallery courtyard, Davis, listening to the world premier of a composition by Ryan Suleiman for solo viola, played by Kurt Rohde, professor of music, UC Davis. This piece was commissioned by Peter London and Gregory Guss, and is inspired by their artwork. Following this, the chamber ensemble of Julie Hockman, William Barbini and Kineko Okumora will play a series of classical chamber works.

This event is in conjunction with the Soul of Nature exhibit, featuring art by Peter London and P. Gregory Guss. This exhibit is on display Oct. 1 — Nov. 5 at the Pence Gallery, with an opening reception on Oct. 8, 6 — 9 p.m.

 

'Guardians: Spirits of Protection' on view at UC Davis Design Museum 

“Guardians: Spirits of Protection,” a poignant exploration of the creative relationship between tragedy and design, reopened the UC Davis Design Museum on Oct. 4. We wrote more about the details in last week’s blog here.

The installation showcases a series of sculptures created by design professor emerita Ann Savageau. Made from found objects and flotsam that washed up on the beach coming from unknown places, the sculptures created by Savageau are composites of the disparate castoffs — in response to the tragic events in her life and to the pandemic.

“On a personal scale, ‘Guardians’ is about building a new life from loss,” said Savageau. “Creating this work helped me cope with my losses and grief. The meditative, incantatory process of building these figures enabled me to direct feelings of grief and loss to a more positive action. I found comfort in the care, thought, love and attention to detail I devoted to their creation.”

The installation runs through April 24.

The Design Museum, part of the College of Letters and Science and free to the public, is in Cruess Hall, Room 124. It is open weekdays from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information about this exhibition, visit arts.ucdavis.edu/design.

Click Visit the Design Museum for map and parking information.

A direct link to the live stream can be found here. 

Coming Up

Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra at the Mondavi

Fandango at the Wall with special guests the Villalobos Brothers and the Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective. Opening Mondavi concert this season.

Thursday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.

Each year since 2008, around Memorial Day, a transnational jam session happens on both sides of the wall at the Tijuana-San Diego border. This Fandango Fronterizo Festival inspired Grammy-winning musician and composer Arturo O’Farrill to launch a three-part project (album, book and film) under the title Fandango at the Wall to explore the close connections between Mexico and the United States. For this concert O’Farrill and his special guests tear down musical walls, exploring jazz, classical, Broadway, hip hop and son jarocho.  

Find more information here. 

Sneak Peek: Manetti Shrem Winter Exhibition Coming in January

The unique life-as-art ethos of the 1960s embodied by the UC Davis art department is at the heart of two new exhibitions opening Jan. 8, 2022, at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis. A third exhibition explores protest and resistance over 30 years of new media.

The Manetti Shrem Museum will host an in-person Winter Season Celebration on Jan. 30 at the museum to celebrate the opening of the new exhibitions. More details, including artists in attendance, will be announced later this fall. 

“William T. Wiley and the Slant Step: All on the Line” presents an in-depth examination of the period of 1962 to 1969, while Wiley was teaching at UC Davis. Working with all available media, he developed a complex methodology and compound symbol language to explore philosophical, environmental and psychological questions. The results are startling, often beautiful and always engaging. “William T. Wiley and the Slant Step: All on the Line” gathers key works from this era, including The Slant Step, a peculiar wooden “step” covered in worn green linoleum purchased at a Marin County salvage shop. It epitomized Wiley’s outlook on art and jump-started conceptual art in Northern California. This exhibition gathers for the first time many of the versions of this iconic found object produced by Wiley and his former student, Bruce Nauman, while also debuting a new digital Slant Step work by Nauman. The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with the artist before his death in April 2021 and is based on five years of research by Manetti Shrem Curator at Large Dan Nadel. Jan. 8 — May 2022.

Mary Heilmann, one of North America’s greatest living painters, also found her voice and artistic freedom at UC Davis. “Mary Heilmann: Squaring Davis” features her Northern California oeuvre of rarely seen ceramics from the mid-1960s, sculptures and her “Davis Square” paintings — an integral part of Heilmann’s breakthrough body of work of red, yellow and blue geometric abstractions. In 1966, while a graduate art student at UC Berkeley, Heilmann was struggling with her identity, her professors and her medium. She took an independent study at Davis to study with Professor William T. Wiley, and found kindred spirits in Wiley and Bruce Nauman. They inspired her to keep creating art despite her doubts. In 1977, Heilmann returned to UC Davis as a visiting artist for two quarters and created a group of works in tribute to the memory of her breakthrough. Curator: Dan Nadel. Jan. 8 — May 2022.

Protest can take varied forms, from active demonstrations to addressing ongoing dialogues around racism, social inequity and the failures of democracy. With “From Moment to Movement: Picturing Protest in the Kramlich Collection,” the museum presents an ambitious, large-scale exhibition of six contemporary video and film installations. Drawn primarily from the world-renowned Kramlich Collection, the exhibition spans 30 years and brings together an international and intergenerational group of contemporary artists: Shiva Ahmadi, Dara Birnbaum, Kota Ezawa, Theaster Gates, Nalini Malani and Mikhael Subotzky. Each work examines a different event grounded in the real world, using specific moments from the United States, China, India and South Africa to explore protest from different angles: resistance; the role of media in our understanding of events; and the power and politics of viewing. Curator: Susie Kantor. Jan. 8 — spring 2022.

Read the full story here. 

Notably, the Manetti Shrem's current exhibit on Wayne Thiebaud is featured on "Insight" this week on Capitol Public Radio. Listen! Read the sidebar for more information on the exhibition.

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