• Nelson Gallery — The Nelson stays open late today (Feb. 10) for the Davis community's 2nd Friday ArtAbout. The gallery's featured exhibition this quarter is Poking at Beehives: Three Painters (see details below). Also: from the university's Fine Arts Collection, works on paper by major artists from Rembrandt to Cezanne, as well as newly acquired photographs by Northern California artists. Tonight's hours: 5 to 7 p.m.

Next Thursday (Feb. 16), the public is invited to spend An Hour with the Director (Renny Pritikin), joining him for a tour of the gallery and informal discussion along the way, as the group takes in Poking at Beehives and selections from the Fine Arts Collection. The Nelson ARTfriends will serve light refreshments. Starting time is 4 p.m., and admission is free.

The Nelson is in Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club).

• C.N. Gorman Museum — The museum hosts Ruthe Blalock Jones for an artist talk and reception, 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 15), in connection with Ruthe Blalock Jones: A Retrospective, the museum's winter quarter exhibition (see details below).The museum is in 1316 Hart Hall.

NEW AT SHIELDS LIBRARY

• Paper Takes: The Power of Uncivil Words — Materials from the library's Walter Goldwater Radical Pamphlets collection, part of the library's Special Collections. The exhibition debuted last fall as part of the campus's Civility Project, and now Paper Takes is on display in the Shields Library lobby, through winter quarter.

Looking beyond the bounds of the campus, the exhibition explores the ways in which intolerant views are communicated and disseminated through pamphlets. Paper Takes explores the particular rhetoric supporting race-based hatred, gender and sexuality bias, and political divisiveness, to better understand the dominant discourses that frame some of our most uncivil exchanges. Displaying a selection from more than 17,000 items in the leading collection of “extreme” pamphlets in the United States, this exhibition provides historical depth to our understanding of the language of hate and intolerance, traces of which remain potent today.

Regular hours: 7:30 a.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-midnight Sunday. Holidays and other exceptions.

Read more about Paper Takes and the Walter Goldwater Radical Pamphlets collection.

OPENING NEXT WEEK

• Hollow — Flame-worked sculpture and vessels by Craft Center instructor Andrew Phillips. Feb. 17-March 16, Craft Center Gallery, South Silo. Regular hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

• Ruthe Blalock Jones: A Retrospective — The internationally acclaimed Blalock Jones creates in a range of media, including oil, acrylic, watercolor and printmaking — producing works that emerge from personal experiences with a focus on Native American women in dance attire, and depictions of ceremonial and social events. Blalock Jones (Chu-Lun-Dit), Delaware/Shawnee/Peoria, formerly served as professor and art director at Bacone College, Muskogee, Okla. Through March 16, C.N. Gorman Museum, 1316 Hart Hall. Artist talk and reception, 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15. Regular hours: noon-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 2-5 p.m. Sunday.

• My Turn: Revolutions in Wood and Glass — By Craft Center lathe instructor Dorothy Brandon. Through Feb. 10, Craft Center Gallery, South Silo. Regular hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

• Need and Desire, the work of blankblank — Curated by Rob Zinn, founder of blankblank, a Northern California firm that works with a select group of designers and artisans to produce furniture, lighting and limited-edition art — as seen around the world. The title of this show alludes to the ambiguities that Zinn sees between art and design, form and function, business and creativity, and individual and society. Need and Desire charts the past eight years of blankblank through examples from its collection, including documentation of development and personal insight from Zinn as to the time, environment and circumstance in which they were created. Through March 16, Design Museum, Cruess Hall. Regular hours: noon-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Closed holidays and holiday weekends.

• Poking at Beehives: Three Painters — “I believe that this will prove to be the most important painting show that I have organized in my seven years at the Nelson,” said the gallery’s director, Renny Pritikin. “These are three very special artists, and it’s a thrill to bring their work to the attention of this community for the first time.” Each of the artists, Peter Edlund, Leslie Shows and Fred Tomaselli, finds inspiration in nature. A  news release describes them as follows:

Edlund, from Brooklyn via San Francisco, who makes representational monochromatic depictions of natural settings, has carved out a significant career since returning to the Northeast after many years in San Francisco and is a professor at the acclaimed School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Tomaselli, from Brooklyn via Los Angeles, is internationally acclaimed for his collage paintings depicting birds, nature and narratives in thick resin.

Shows, from San Francisco via Alaska, also makes collaged paintings based on man’s impact on nature, and is considered to be one of the handful of most important artists to emerge from San Francisco in the past 10 years.

Through March 18, Nelson Gallery, Nelson Hall. Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, Saturday-Sunday, and by appointment on Fridays.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

• New Works by Jaime Montiel — The UC Davis alumnus is the 2010-12 artist in residence at the TANA  community art center, where this exhibition is taking place. TANA, run by the Department of Chicana/o Studies, stands for Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer, or art workshop of the new dawn. Montiel is exhibiting paintings and prints that he created the last two years, during which time he has been helping as an instructor in TANA's youth workshops. The artist in residence is from Winters, where he has a studio. He received a bachelor's degree in studio art at UC Davis and a master's in painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design. TANA is at 1224 Lemen Ave., Woodland. Call for hours: (530) 402-1065.

MORE AT SHIELDS LIBRARY

• The Ground Beneath Our Feet: The Nikola P. Prokopovich Papers on Land Subsidence — Manuscript archivist Liz Phillips prepared this exhibition on the papers of engineering geologist Nikola P. Prokopovich (1918-99)., who worked as a geologist with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Region.

He worked out of the bureau's Sacramento office from 1958 to 1986, investigating the geology and geochemistry of statewide water projects, including the Central Valley Project and the Solano Project. He was an avid field geologist and spent as much time as possible on site, collecting his own data. Prokopovich was particularly interested in the engineering geology of the Central Valley Project's canals and dam sites, and in the effects of state water projects and field irrigation on the surrounding landscape.

The collection includes draft reports, memoranda and published writings, as well as nearly 25,000 slides and photographs documenting his work and the land around his work sites. 

The Shields Library presents its exhibitions in the lobby. Regular hours: 7:30 a.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-midnight Sunday. Holidays and other exceptions.

OFF-CAMPUS

• Between the Quotes: Work by UC Davis Art Faculty — New work by 12 members of the UC Davis Department of Art: paintings by Timothy Berry, David Hollowell, Hearne Pardee, Bryce Vinokurov and Gina Werfel; photographs by Robin Hill, Matthias Geiger and Youngsuk Suh; video and sculpture by Darrin Martin; sculpture by Tom Bills, Lucy Puls and Annabeth Rosen, alongside a recent drawing. Through Feb. 29, Pence Gallery, 212 D St., Davis. The exhibit and related programs are sponsored by the Department of Art, and the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies (Herbert A. Young Society Fund).