Check out Wide Open Walls murals at UC Davis Health Sacramento Campus
The arts blog covered the mural painting a few weeks ago here. Now, the murals are finished and in full view.
This blog is taken from the UC Davis Health news site story by Rick Kushman, Senior Writer, UC Davis Health. To read the full story and see photos, check UC Davis Health News.
The Weekender is compiled by UC Davis News and Media Relations Intern Michelle Villagomez
The UC Davis Health Sacramento campus has two new large splashes of vibrant color and artistic energy courtesy of local artists and the Wide Open Walls art festival. Check them out soon or watch the video embedded in this story.
Sacramento artists Ana Valentine and Jose Di Gregorio finished their multi-story murals on the health campus that were part of the region-wide 2020 art festival. This year, Wide Open Walls added more than two dozen murals to the Sacramento region streetscape.
“Art makes everybody think, makes everybody wonder, makes everybody smile,” said Wide Open Walls founder and CEO David Sobon. “That’s the value of public art. It can reach people everywhere in the community, whether in an alley or at the UC Davis Medical Center.”
The creative process for Valentine and Di Gregoria was as different as their art — although both had the same goal: Use the public space given them to offer some of the magic of art to people around the medical center and in the neighborhood.
Valentine, who has a separate UC Davis Health connection because she used to work in a MIND Institute research lab, took weeks to recreate a version of her painting titled “Unity” on the side of the staff parking lot facing Stockton Boulevard. It’s an image of an open flower made up of birds.
“It’s viewed as a solitary flower from afar,” Valentine said. “But come closer and you realize it’s really all those birds together. That’s how many of us feel right now. We might feel alone, but when we look closely, we see we’re really going through this together.”
Di Gregorio, who also has pieces inside the North Addition Office Building, painted an original circular mural of bright geometric patterns in a few days. His work is on the side of University Tower.
“For people coming and going to the hospital, it creates sort of a portal that gives them a small respite from whatever is concerning them,” he said. “I hope it provides the public an opportunity to escape for just a moment and to get a little bit of relief.”
Wide Open Walls will provide at least one more mural to UC Davis Health, but no site, date or artist has been chosen yet.
UC Davis Health was a major sponsor of Wide Open Walls for the second straight year as part of the health system’s decades-long efforts to spread the benefits and joy of art throughout its facilities and community.
Check out the video about the murals from UC Davis health by Christopher Nelson.
Back to Bach with UC Davis lecturer Marilyn Swan today
Shinkoskey Noon Concert: Goldberg Variations, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, Thursday, Oct. 22, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, online via Youtube.
- Tune in as pianist and UC Davis lecturer, Marilyn Swan plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Complete).
- For more info, click here. If you miss the concert, the video will be posted here.
Shinkoskey Noon Concert: Latin Jazz, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, Thursday, Oct. 29, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, online via Youtube
- Next week, the Shinkoskey noon concert features a collaboration of musicians including Brian Rice, a highly acclaimed performer, educator — UC Davis lecturer in music — and recording artist and one of the most versatile percussionists in the Bay Area. In this musical performance, Rice will play the congas and musicians Saul Sierra will play the bass, Marco Diaz, the piano, and Dave Flores, the drums.
- From folklórico to modern jazz, this new quartet of accomplished musicians collaborates to bring listeners a kaleidoscope of music from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and many other Latin traditions. Learn more here.
Pence Gallery Davis has work on view
Firewood: An Installation by Chris Daubert
“Chris Daubert’s installation Firewood creates an environment in which visitors are invited to observe multiple hand-carved, wooden sculptures of solitary objects, each created out of a single piece of firewood.” Daubert is a UC Davis alumnus. Read more of the exhibit’s description here.
- Head to Pence Gallery’s youtube segment In the Studio to learn more in-depth about Chris Daubert’s show.
“This Is Not a Dream is abstract painter Sara Post’s response to current realities a meditation on confinement and loss, uncertainty and change, solace and beauty — all of which define our present moment. Post addresses the altered nature of life during shelter in place, with paintings that examine our relationship to nature and home, and our hope for the future.”
- Check out Sara Post’s In the Studio here.
- COVID-19 guidelines apply to any visit: masks, social distancing, and limited attendance
Coming soon
Conversation and Book Launch: Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists. The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art
This virtual event is in continuation with Manetti Shrem Museum’s fall programs. This event celebrates the recent publication of this survey of the work of a new generation of Black artists that accompanies the “Young, Gifted and Black” exhibition, which will travel to the Manetti Shrem Museum in 2022. Associate Curator Susie Kantor will be in conversation with collector Bernard Lumpkin, writer Antwaun Sargent, and curator Matt Wycoff. 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29.
For more information about this event, click here.
Register here.
Art social media of the week
We came across this tweet, reminding us to check out “Wayne Thiebaud 100” which is now open.
