RECEPTIONS TODAY AND FRIDAY (JUNE 2 AND 3)

Photography: Bridging Art and Science — UC Davis students are once again using the camera to explore the conceptual connections between art and science and the role of art and science at UC Davis. The exhibition is the culmination of Professor Terry Nathan’s photography class, Science and Society 40, which he teaches as part of the Art-Science Fusion Program.

Bridging Art and Science opened June 1 and is scheduled to run through June 28 at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. An opening reception, free and open to the public, is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. today (June 2).

This year’s Bridging Art and Science exhibition comprises the work of more than 50 students.

Said Nathan: “Beginning with centuries-old experiments in optics and chemistry to the present-day digital revolution, the camera has relied on science for its development while also serving as a vital scientific tool for probing and documenting the natural world.

“In the hands of the artist, the camera has heightened our awareness of the aesthetic qualities of space and light while revealing hidden truths about culture and society.”

In SAS 40, students use photography to explore the common ground occupied by art and science. Two lectures each week address topics such as the art and science roots of photography; principles of space, time and light; Gestalt psychology meets Einsteinian physics in photographic composition; the geometric foundations of art and science; order versus disorder; and photographic interpretation of the environment.

One studio session each week builds visual literacy skills through hands-on photography projects.

“This final student exhibition highlights the learning and creativity that emerges when students explore the intellectual borderland between art and science,” Nathan said.

The House of Others — A reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today (June 3) will herald the opening of this year's MFA exhibition at the Nelson Gallery.

Seven Master of Fine Arts graduates are participating in the show, in which they explore art in the age of Facebook and Twitter.

“This small group of dedicated young artists offers a sneak peek at the concerns and investigations that will surface in contemporary art over the second and third decades of the 21st century,” said Renny Pritikin, director of the Nelson Gallery.

The exhibitors:

Painters

• Manuel Fernando Rios
  
• Matthew Taylor
  
• Mathew Zefeldt

Sculptors

• Lisa Rybovich Crallé
  
• Paul Taylor (also showing documentation of outdoor sculpture)

Video and media art

• Jen Cohen
  
• Benjamin Rosenthal

An accompanying catalog will include short essays by Pritikin on each of the artists, the Nelson Gallery announced.

The Nelson is in Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club). Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Thursday, and by appointment on Fridays.

The Design Program MFA Graduate Exhibition opened May 18 and runs through June 14 at the Design Museum, 145 Walker Hall. 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. 

Earlier coverage.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

• 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.

• 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

• 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.