African American Quilts — Quilts made by former slaves, plus 21st-century creations informed by time-honored veins of African American quilting. From the collections of Avis C. Robinson of Washington, D.C., and Sandra McPherson of Davis. The latter, a UC Davis professor emeritus of English, writes poetry that is rooted in quilting traditions. Through Dec. 13, Nelson Gallery.

The Art of Athletes — Works by UC Davis student-athletes in a variety of majors and sports. 1-7 p.m. today (Oct. 16), noon-4 p.m. Oct. 17 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 18, Log Cabin Gallery, First and F streets, Davis. Meet the artists, 5:30-7 p.m. today (Oct. 16). Free. Sponsored by Intercollegiate Athletics. See separate story.

SPONSOR: Intercollegiate AthleticsDiversity in the C.N. Gorman Museum Collections — Featuring recent donations: lithographs and sculpture by Salvador Dalí, and paintings and drawings by Florentino Laime Mantilla. Through Dec. 6, C.N. Gorman Museum..

How to Make a (Political) Play: Behind the Scenes with the San Francisco Mime Troupe — Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, a political theater group. The exhibition is drawn from script drafts, memos, correspondence, broadsides, graphics, photographs and even old checkbooks — among the troupe’s archives that are housed in the UC Davis General Library’s Special Collections. Fall and winter quarters, lobby, Shields Library.

Merch Art — Investigating art as commodity, as in merchandise art, from the collection of Lawrence Banka and Judith Gordon of San Francisco, and from the university’s Fine Arts Collection. Through Dec. 13, Nelson Gallery and Nelson Entryway Gallery.

Odocoileus hemionus — Catherine Yasuda, student manager of the Craft Center woodshop, presents an intarsia, or mosaiclike work of pieces of wood that appear to be inlaid, but in fact fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Yasuda’s intarsia is a mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) made from different species of wood. Also featured are hand-shaped, mule deer hoofprints from more than 150 species of wood. Through Oct. 30, Craft Center Gallery.

Typographic Exploration in Hangul: Work by Hyunju Lee and Phil Choo — Their typographic roots began in Hangul, the native script of Korea. Through Dec. 6, Design Museum.

University Library: Building a Foundation, 1908-2008 — Centennial exhibition. Lobby, Shields Library.