More Exhibitions: Design Museum, Nelson Gallery host MFA shows

The Women’s Resources and Research Center announced that it will present the 2011 Ellen Hansen Memorial Prize during a reception on Friday (May 13) at downtown Davis gallery.

The presentation will take place during the opening reception for an exhibition of original creative projects by UC Davis female students. The prize will go to the artist whose work is judged, by a faculty panel, to be the best at demonstrating women’s bravery and independence — as Hansen herself exemplified.

The contest welcomes all kinds of art: painting, sculpture, design, performance art, fiction, film, dance, photography, poetry, creative nonfiction and musical composition.

Hansen, an artist, musician and poet, was a UC Davis student in March 1981 when she fell victim to Trailside Killer David Carpenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Hansen’s “courageous resistance allowed her hiking companion to escape and survive the attack,” according to the Women's Resources and Research Center, on its Web page devoted to the Hansen prize.

Robert J. Hansen, established the annual award in 1986 as a tribute to his daughter, and to encourage the creative pursuits of other female students. He is an emeritus professor of veterinary medicine.

Friday’s reception is scheduled from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Pence Gallery, 212 D St., during the 2nd Friday ArtAbout. The Hansen exhibition is set to run through May 27. Gallery hours: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, and until 9 p.m. for the 2nd Saturday ArtAbout.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

• Across the Great Divide: A Photo Chronicle of the Counterculture — Photos by New Mexico’s Roberta Price, who left her home in the Northeast to pursue the hippie aesthetic in the late ’60s and became one of the founders of Colorado’s Libre commune, which still exists today. The exhibition’s title is the same as the title of Price’s new book, published last November by the University of New Mexico Press. Through May 22, Nelson Gallery, Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club). Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Thursday, and by appointment on Fridays. Earlier coverage.

• Conversations About Race — Built around this year's Campus Community Book Project: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum. The General Library Committee on Diversity prepared the exhibition. Through spring quarter, lobby, Shields Library. 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.•

• Extended Voices: Prints from Crow’s Shadow Press — Crow’s Shadow Press is the publishing arm of the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts in Pendleton, Ore. With a primary focus on printmaking, the institute’s studio attracts established as well as emerging Native American artists. Extended Voices, presented in collaboration with Tamarind master printer Frank Janzen, reflects a range of printing techniques by such established artists as Rick Bartow, Edgar Heap of Birds, James Lavadour, Kay Walkingstick, Joe Feddersen, Marie Watt, Phillip John Charette, Gerald McMaster and Wendy Red Star. Through June 12, C.N. Gorman Museum, 1316 Hart Hall. Regular hours: noon-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Earlier coverage.

• Least Favorite: Josh Greene — The San Francisco-based art humorist addresses the question: What do your parents really think of what you do? In a larger sense, he is exploring what the wider society thinks about contemporary art. He enlists his family in many of his art projects, and, for this work, he asked his parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, and others to name their least favorite of his art projects over the past decade, and to explain why. Least Favorite comprises the responses, along with portraits of the responders. Through May 22, Nelson Gallery, Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club). Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Thursday, and by appointment on Fridays. Earlier coverage.

• More Than Just a Picture: A Garden of Graphics in Special Collections — University Archivist presents a selection of botanical engravings, line drawings and watercolors from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The early illustrations, made for growers and scientists, show plants in ways that would not be duplicated until the advent of color photography. Through summer, lobby, Shields Library. 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.

• Nuevo Latino Cuisine — Presenting the academic side of nuevo Latin or Pan-Latin cuisine, the exhibition draws on the University Library’s collections on native foods, agricultural sustainability, and the impact of historical events on the definitions of national cuisines and the cultural representation of these varied cuisines. The scholarship comes from several disciplines: history, agricultural economics, anthropology and the life sciences. Exhibition prepared by Myra Appel, head of the Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Information Services Department, and bibliographer for Latin American Studies. Through summer, lobby, Shields Library. 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.

• Oil Paintings and Custom Jewelry — By Andrew Dorn, precious metalsmithing instructor at the Craft Center. Through June 3, 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. weekends.

• Rooted in Sovereignty: Still Here, Still Strong — In connection with Native American Culture Days. This exhibition presents a tiny sampling of the University Library's world-class Native American Studies collections. Adam Siegel, Native American Studies bibliographer, prepared the exhibition. Through spring quarter, lobby, Shields Library. 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.

OFF-CAMPUS

• TANA Student Art Exhibition — The first such exhibition ever at the UC Davis-affiliated TANA community art center, which opened in December 2009 at 1224 Lemen Ave., Woodland. The Department of Chicana/o Studies conceived of TANA and runs it; TANA stands for Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer, or Art Workshops of the New Dawn. The Student Art Exhibition is scheduled to run through May. Viewing hours: noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Workshops are in session 3-6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Earlier coverage, with images of some of the students' artwork.

• Wayne Thiebaud, professor emeritus of art — Five of his paintings are on display at the California Museum in Sacramento, in conjunction with his induction Dec. 14 into the California Hall of Fame. See separate stories on Thiebaud, "Painter, teacher, visionary" and his induction into the California Hall of Fame. The museum has gathered personal items from all of the 2010 inductees, for an exhibition that is scheduled to run through Oct. 31. Thiebaud's picks: Bikini Figure (1966), Waterland (1996), Two Tulip Sundaes (2009), and Intersection Building and Cliff Ridge (both from 2010), all oils, on canvas or wood. The museum is in the California State Archives building at 1020 O St., at the corner of 10th Street, one block south of Capitol Park. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. (No one admitted after 4:30 p.m.) Closed all major holidays and furlough Fridays.