ART HISTORY PROGRAM

The Nelson Gallery announced its first-ever commissioning of an art history graduate student to give a talk about a selected work from the university’s Fine Arts Collection.

The commission came by way of the Nelson’s first Art History Fellowship, a $500 award given by the gallery with the help of the Nelson ARTfriends.

The recipient is Kamal Zargar, and his talk will center on the photograph Palazzo Ducale, Venice, from the mid-19th century.

Zargar’s talk, “The Transformation and Preservation of the Republic of Venice by the Photographs of the Fratelli Alinari,” is scheduled to begin at noon Tuesday, May 31, at the gallery in Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club). Admission is free and open to the public.

“This project looks into how this photograph, taken by the prolific studio of the Fratelli Alinari in Florence, simultaneously helped transfer Venice into the modern period while preserving its republican glory as seen through the city’s art and architecture,” Zargar wrote for a flier announcing his talk.

WORTHY OF THE TITLE MASTER OF FINE ARTS

Nine Master of Fine Arts graduates are putting their masterful creations on display in year-end exhibitions at the Design Museum and Nelson Gallery. Earlier coverage.

The Design Museum hosts the Design Program MFA Graduate Exhibition, featuring the work of two MFA graduates, one offering fashion design for diverse bodies, the other a packaging design for a new generation of small farms.

The Nelson Gallery hosts an exhibition titled The House of Others, in which seven MFA graduates explore art in the age of Facebook and Twitter, in paintings, sculptures, and elaborate video and media art.

Design Program MFA Graduate Exhibition — This exhibition opened May 18 and is scheduled to run through June 14 at the Design Museum, 145 Walker Hall.
Reception and lectures, 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday, May 22. Regular hours: noon-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday. The exhibitors:

• Elizabeth Kaino Hopper — Snap, Zip, Wrap: Fashion Design for Diverse Bodies.
• Rachel Smith — Produce: Packaging Design for a New Generation of Small Farms. 

The House of Others — June 3-24, Nelson Gallery, Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club). Reception, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 3. Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Thursday, and by appointment on Fridays. 

OTHER 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 spring quarter and 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 spring quarter and summer, 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.