This weekend, we introduce lots of free presentations we didn't previously know about... and maybe you didn't either..., including a new podcast at the deYoung and a Smithsonian artists lecture series. Read on.
This blog written by Michelle Villagomez, UC Davis Media Relations Intern
Shinkoskey Noon Concert features Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Thursday, Jan. 28, 12:01 p.m. to 1 p.m, free, via UC Davis Music’s Youtube Channel at any time.
Anna Presler, violin
Matilda Hofman, viola and UC Davis lecturer in music
Leighton Fong, cello
Allegra Chapman, piano
Craig Walsh: Pipeline Burst Cache for Solo Cello and Tape animation by Maria Fong
Betsy Jolas: Music To Go for Viola and Cello
Jörg Widmann: Duo for Violin and Cello
Ross Bauer: Pas de Deux for Viola and Cello. Bauer is a professor emeritus of the Department of Music at UC Davis.
Peter Tornyai: fiori sfiorati for solo cello
Melinda Wagner: Romanze with Faux Variations (Piano Trio No. 2)
Learn more here.
Next week, Shinkoskey Noon Concert introduces ‘New Words and New Music with Voice: 2020’
Thursday, Feb, 4, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, via UC Davis Music’s Youtube Channel.
Worlds collide as UC Davis graduate students in music and the creative writing program come together to bring us a performance. This concert will showcase collaborative works among five creative writing MFA students and four doctoral students in music composition and theory. The noon concert will also include music, theatre and dance students performing, as well as music faculty. The prerecorded concert will be shown on the Department of Music Youtube channel and available for viewing after its premiere, Feb. 4, 12:05 p.m to 1 p.m. This is the third year of the collaboration. Originally scheduled for spring 2020, the concert was delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
For more information, click here.
The Crocker Art Museum returns with their ‘Official Rogue Book Club’ tonight
Thursday, Jan 28, 6 p.m., free. Register.
Each month, the Official Rogue Book Club brings together readers, art-lovers, and special guests to discuss books that inspire us to look at art and life in new and unexpected ways. Kicking off 2021 with An Object of Beauty: A Novel, by Steve Martin.
Most people associate banjo player Steve Martin with pop culture staples like Roxanne, Saturday Night Live, or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. However, the comedian-turned-actor got his start in writing, starting with The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which won him an Emmy at age 23. Today, he is the author of several plays, including Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and the highly acclaimed novel Shopgirl. His work has also appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times.
In An Object of Beauty, Lacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take on New York City’s art world. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to climb the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness. Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallel the soaring heights – and, at times, the dark lows – of the art world and the nation from the late 1990s through today.
This program will last approximately 60 minutes.
More information about the event here.
Annual ‘Night of Ideas’ goes virtual tonight
Thursday, Jan. 28, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m, free, via Eventbrite. Register.
Animate your imagination at the third annual Night of Ideas, a special collaboration among SFMOMA, KQED, the San Francisco Public Library, Villa San Francisco, and California Humanities.
Transformed from an all-night library takeover into virtual form, this year’s event continues the tradition of bringing together Bay Area thinkers, community leaders, artists, and performers to share their creative visions for the future. After a year that has created or exacerbated physical and metaphorical distance among us, we’ve invited these voices to imagine what could bring us closer together. How do we close the distances between each other? How do we close the distance toward a more just and vibrant Bay Area? This will be an evening of keynotes, conversations, and performances about how people are working on “Closing the Distance."
Hosted by KQED’s Mina Kim, this two-hour broadcast will feature a message from San Francisco Mayor London Breed, as well as video appearances and performances from a variety of guests, including Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project; Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone), co-founder/co-director of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust; Antoine Hunter and Urban Jazz Dance Company; VivvyAnne ForeverMORE! and Friends; artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez; and several others. Don’t miss Close to Home exhibition artist Tucker Nichols sharing a deeper look into his project Flowers for Sick People, as well as details on how you can pick up one of his flower prints for someone you care about.
To learn more about the speakers, presenters, and performers, go here.
Smithsonian virtual event: ‘Renwick Invitational 2020’ Conversation with Debora Moore
Thursday, Jan 28. 4 p.m., free, via Eventbrite. Register.
We discovered this series of events offered by the Smithsonian, partly because UC Davis’ own Malaquias Montoya, professor emeritus and muralist extraordinaire, will be presenting on Feb. 18. More on that later, or at the link in this story. Tonight, this free event features the beauty and wonder of the natural world through the spectacular glass sculptures by artist Debora Moore featured in the exhibition Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020. Join Moore and Stefano Catalani, exhibition juror and executive director of the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, for an engaging online conversation about Moore’s creative process and work featured in Forces of Nature. Learn more about Moore’s history as a trailblazer in the glass field, and why experiencing nature is key to her development as an artist.
The Smithsonian Women’s Committee Endowment provided funding for Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020 public programs.
Read more about the event here.
Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank presents 'Time Piece' Friday
Friday, Jan 29. And Saturday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m., free, via Zoom, 6 p.m. Register.
Nicholas Nash is an obsessed scientist, working desperately to fix a time machine to save the woman he loves from the apocalypse. But it keeps making copies of himself instead. This sci-fi movie musical is written by Keaton Wooden and Grayson Coleman-Shelby, and will be presented on the campus of Southern Utah University.
Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank is sponsored in part by the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
The de Young museum’s podcast ‘Local Voices: Season 2’ is here along with a virtual talk
Local Voices is a new podcast series from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco designed to celebrate art and Bay Area creativity. Local Voices highlights unique perspectives from Bay Area visual artists, musicians, scholars, community leaders, and thinkers aimed to reframe exhibitions and collections through relevant and local narratives. Through these diverse access points, we welcome the Bay Area community and beyond to engage in meaningful and inspiring narratives.
For this season, nine Bay Area teens reflect and share their own perspectives on objects from the Museums’ permanent collections. Through the themes of Belief, Density, Emotion, Material, Power, and Storytelling, the teens converse with curators, scholars, artists, and community members as well as family and friends to gain new insights and information.
Check out more details about each episode here.
To watch a Behind the scenes of the podcast season, go to the latest “Virtual Wednesdays” video in de Young museum’s Youtube channel. Make sure to check out past virtual events in this Youtube playlist.
If you missed season 1, it features local artists influenced and inspired by the art and life of the artist Frida Kahlo. The season pays tribute to the legacy of artist and curator René Yañez, who in the 1970s brought the first Frida Kahlo exhibition on the West Coast to San Francisco. His son, the artist Rio Yañez, will introduce listeners to Bay Area artists from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who will share their distinctive perspectives. It will explore the long-lasting impact of Frida Kahlo and celebrate the exhibition Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can be Deceiving at the de Young museum.
You can listen to the eight-episode podcast and find more information, here.
An interactive presentation behind the inspiration for ‘The de Young Open’
The Legion of Honor museum’s rich collection of European paintings includes masterpieces that debuted in salon-style hangs at 17th- and 18th-century public art exhibitions. These juried expositions swelled with thousands of paintings hung floor to ceiling, making use of every inch of space. From traditional biblical scenes to flashy and arresting portraits, works were pitted against one another, vying for the viewer’s attention.
Explore 15 masterpieces in their collection and learn about their origins in salon-style exhibitions through an interactive presentation here.
Coming up
Art Studio Visiting Artist Lecture Series Soo Sunny Park next week
Thursday, Feb. 4, 4:30 p.m., free, via Zoom. Register.
Soo Sunny Park is a professor of studio art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. She received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, and master of fine arts in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Park has received many prestigious awards, fellowships and residencies, including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2000; the Bellagio Center Residency, Bellagio, Italy; Kultur Osterbotten Fellowship, Ateljé Stundars Residency, Korsholm, Finland; Vancouver Biennale 2014-15 Residency, British Columbia, Canada; and Martin Shallenberger Artist-in-Residence, Cheekwood, Nashville, Tenn. She is widely recognized for her sculptural light installations, which have been exhibited at art institutions throughout the United States, including the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.
This event is organized by the Department of Art and Art History. Co-sponsored by the UC Davis College of Letters and Science and the Manetti Shrem Museum.
More information here.
Art Social Media of the Week
Although Manetti Shrem continues to be temporarily closed, this meme post on their instagram reminded us that there are still virtual events happening. Check out their programs for future events. And, you might want to get in line for future live events.
