Alexander Kozik, a UC Davis bioinformatics specialist who has merged his scientific and artistic sides, presents a sampling of his watercolor work tonight (Sept. 14) during the Davis community's 2nd Friday ArtAbout.

The works, expressing dreams and fantasies, are from a series he calls Colors.

He does his watercolor work in parallel with his other artistic endeavor, something he started 10 years ago as an offshoot of his work in data visualization at the Genome Center. On his own time, he interprets biological data in colors and shape, developing numerous computer programs to transform dry numbers into unique, attractive, colorful graphs and forms. See his work on his personal website.

“I want to show scientists and others the beauty in the world of numerical data and DNA sequences,” he wrote in his artist statement for the 2nd Friday ArtAbout.

Kozik's one-night show is scheduled from 6 to 10 at the Ray Johnston photography studio, 803 Second St., Suite 302 (third floor of the Chen Building at Second and G streets). Johnston is showing some of his work, too: underwater photography, in an exhibition he calls Sea of Dreams — A World of Water.

OFF CAMPUS

• Cielo Rojo — Maceo Montoya, artist, writer and assistant professor, Department of Chicana/o Studies, presents 17 paintings in charcoal and acrylic on paper, plus five limited-edition silkscreen prints based on the Cielo Rojo series. Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer, or art workshop of the new dawn, 1224 Lemen Ave., Woodland. Call for exhibition hours: (530) 402-1065.

• Marks of Narration — By Professor Emeritus Gyöngy Laky (art and design departments), a self-described environmentalist and artist-activist, working primarily with wood gleaned from orchard pruning, park and garden trimmings, and street trees. Recently she became particularly interested in symbolic systems such as letters, graphic representations, hieroglyphs, ideographs, morphemes, pictographs, runes, signs and syllabary — and how parts of branches, with their idiosyncratic shapes, can also become signs and symbols, to be read and to convey meaning, as in her work, Writing on the Wall. Through Sept. 29, b. sakata garo fine art gallery, 923 20th St., Sacramento.

AT SHIELDS LIBRARY

• Reimagining Shields, Part 2 — Proposals for a new north entry and renovated courtyard, from design students. Mark Kessler, assistant professor, had asked them to consider ways to better connect the library and the Quad “as the heart of the American campus.” Kessler blamed “missteps in design” for leaving the campus with the library and Quad adjacent “but unresponsive to one another” — i.e., with its west-facing entrance, Shields Library “turns its back on the Quad.” Said Daniel Goldstein, Arts and Humanities librarian: “Come see how this talented group of students imagined a redesigned Peter J. Shields and let us know what you think.” Send questions or comments to Goldstein, dgoldstein@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. Through fall quarter. For more information or to share your memories of UC Davis traditions, send an e-mail to Special Collections, speccoll@ucdavis.edu.

The photograph collection.

• Library Staff Favorites — A wide array of titles and subjects representing the diversity of reading tastes among library staff. Visual bibliography. Exhibit prepared by Michelle Brackett, mbrackett@lib.ucdavis.edu, and Robin Gustafson rlgustafson@ucdavis.edu.

The Shields Library exhibitions are in the lobby. Summer hours (through Sept. 14): 7:30 a.m.-8p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 1-7 p.m. Sunday. Holidays and other exceptions.

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