The Nelson Gallery's winter exhibition is a work in progress — with members of the public called upon to contribute their visions of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, now in development.

A $500 prize will be awarded to the entry that best represents the future and history of art at UC Davis.

“Together we will create a unique museum serving the needs of our diverse and exciting community,” museum leaders declared in announcing Design + Build. The exhibition is set to open with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, and run until March 17.

Design + Build coincides with the architectural design competition that is now under way. Using the design-build process, innovatively applied to construction of an art museum, the competition will result in three fully resolved building designs.

“As our architects are working on their designs, you are invited to participate in this exciting process by contributing your vision, ideas and designs for our new museum as part of the open-call exhibition Design + Build, hosted at the Nelson Gallery," museum leaders said.

The planning procress already included a series of campus and city forums. "Just as we shared with our architects the ideas and goals defined in the open forums, we will do the same with Define + Build," said Rachel Teagle, museum director. "They will be in the middle of their work on museum designs, but I don't believe that is too late for great ideas to emerge."

Teagle said the building's design is but one part of the planning process. Public input also is sought for museum programming and the interior layout.

"Design + Build shares the same core principles as the open forum process," Teagle said. "We want to know what is important and exciting to communities of museum users."

Museum leaders noted multiple ways in which students, faculty and the public may contribute:

• Visual ideas and designs for the museum as a whole, or for specific galleries or spaces within the museum and its grounds. Photography, renderings, drawings, three-dimensional — all visual expressions are welcome, provided they conform to the project specifications. Entries will be accepted one day only: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at the Nelson Gallery.

• Text-based contributions, including poetry and essays, “or simply the words you think best describe what our museum needs to be.” Text can be submitted any time up until 4 p.m. Feb. 1 to Katrina Wong, kliwong@ucdavis.edu.

• Ideas for opening performances — submit a proposal by 4 p.m. Feb. 1 to kliwong@ucdavis.edu.

• Casual participation at the exhibition, where building blocks, site analysis and construction advice will be available throughout the show.

• Attend the exhibition's Feb. 8 opening, where a panel of experts from the UC Davis community will discuss the opportunities and issues of the museum site.

More information is available online.

The River Cats 'play their dream' in retiree's photos

UC Davis retiree Charlie McDonald has captured a season full of images of the Sacramento River Cats baseball team, in an exhibition that he calls Playing Their Dream.

“My dream is taking photographs and having folks enjoy my work,” McDonald told Dateline UC Davis.

An opening reception, free and open to the public, is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 18) at Gallery 1075 in West Sacramento. See details below.

McDonald was a 20-year employee of UC Davis, retiring in 2011 from Accounting and Financial Services, where he worked in controls and accountability, purchasing card program, and extramural fund accounting, contracts and grants. He worked as a bookstore manager (computer store, Sacramento bookstore and branch stores), and as manager of the art and photography group at MediaWorks before moving to A&FS.

He started taking photos as a hobby in 1960, and, after joining the Coast Guard in 1968, received formal training at the Naval School of Photography. From there he worked in multiple photo labs for several businesses.

Since his retirement, the Woodland resident has been shooting for SureWestSports.com, covering high school games, including last weekend's Northern California football championships at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento.

The River Cats selected McDonald as one of four photography interns for the 2012 season. They worked on a rotating schedule, which meant that McDonald covered about half of the Cats’ 72 home games — collecting nearly 10,000 images.

“I was able to photograph on the field before and after games,” he said by email. “During the game, I photographed from multiple locations, including the stands, reserved dining areas, outfield grass seating area, the first- and third-base photo-TV boxes next to the dugouts, and even from the roof on one occasion.”

In a news release, he wrote: Playing Their Dream "is my collection of photographs depicting the color and design of the game — and the character of the men involved while playing professional baseball at the Triple-A level."

Gallery 1075 is inside the West Sacramento Community Center, 1075 W. Capitol Ave. The opening reception, free and open to the public, is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 18); the show is scheduled to run through January. The community center’s regular hours: 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Note: The center will be closed Dec. 21 to Jan. 2 for the holidays.

MORE ON CAMPUS

• Out of Line: A Show of Extended Drawing Practices — Drawing, one of the oldest art forms, continues to evolve — as shown by eight artists who have extended the medium to the very large scale. Through Dec. 16, Nelson Gallery, Nelson Hall. Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday, and Friday by appointment.

• Salt-Bitter-Edge-Red Streak into the = Water Girl: Works of Melanie Yazzie — In this printmaking series, the Navajo artist considers her experiences since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She reflects upon her life today, developing new ways of living in Denver, while she remembers the events and people of her childhood and home on the Navajo Nation. Through Dec. 7, C.N. Gorman Museum, 1316 Hart Hall. Regular hours: noon-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday.

• Serigrafía — An exhibition of information design in printmaking, a traditional and powerful communication tool in California’s Latino culture. Through Dec. 7, Design Museum, Cruess Hall. Regular hours: noon-4 p.m. Monday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday.

Read more about the campus's fall exhibitions.

AT SHIELDS LIBRARY

• College to Work: Postsecondary Students and Graduates in the Work Force — Celebrating National Disability Awareness Month and California Disability History Week. The “College to Work” theme comes from the campus’s Disability Awareness Fall Symposium, which presented two UC Davis “success stories”: a Ph.D. student in chemistry who is blind, and a medical student who has profound hearing loss. Read the Dateline UC Davis story. Fall quarter.

• Following the Great Migration: Researching the 2012 Campus Community Book Project Book — Library resources that complement the 2012 section, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson's award-winning study of the Great Migration, the movement of almost 6 million African-Americans from the South from 1915 to 1970. Display assembled by David Michalski, social and cultural studies librarian, who also has compiled an online resource guide, including parallel texts for examining and interpreting the Great Migration's profound influence on American society and culture. The online guide also includes interviews with Wilkerson, a list of influential books on the Great Migration, and links to archival sources and other research tools that can help animate the discussion of this year's book. Fall and winter quarters. For more information about the exhibition and-or the online research guide, send an email to the Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Services Department,  hssref@lib.ucdavis.edu.

• UC Davis Traditions Past and Present — A sampling from the photograph collection of the university archives, keeper of such memories as Labor Day, Frosh Dinks, Tank Rush, Frosh-Soph Brawl and Wild West Days. Exhibit prepared by Sara Gunasekara, collections manager. For more information or to share your memories of UC Davis traditions, send an e-mail to Special Collections, speccoll@ucdavis.edu.

• Worlds of Steampunk: Fiction, Art, Fashion and Culture — It started as a subgenre of science fiction in the 1980s — incorporating fantasy, alternate history and fantastic technology, inspired by the advances of the Industrial Revolution and the late 19th century. Like its antecedents, including the novels of Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and H.G. Wells (The Time Machine), steampunk fiction features dirigibles, balloons, everything powered by steam, and mechanical contraptions of all kinds. You can see it today in movies and art — and in an entire subculture with its own fashion style (goggles, corsets, fancy top hats, and all manner of mechanical accessories decorated with wheels, cogs, gears, clockworks and other imaginative devices). Exhibit prepared by Roberto C. Delgadillo and Marcia Meister, Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Information Service. Fall and winter quarters.

The Shields Library exhibitions are in the lobby. 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. Holidays and other exceptions.

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