The UC Davis art department's early years, including the department's pioneering faculty, are the focus of a pair of public events scheduled for Nov. 13.

First, the art department and the College of Letters and Science plan a tribute to one of those pioneering artists, the painter Roy De Forest, who died in May at the age of 77. After that, a free forum titled "You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Art Faculty" is scheduled in the Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. (See box below for details.)

The forum is being held in conjunction with the You See exhibition at the campus's Nelson Gallery. The exhibit is the first combined showing of works by Manuel Neri, Wayne Thiebaud, William T. Wiley, De Forest and Robert Arneson, who died in 1992.

All five -- recruited to UC Davis from the late 1950s to early 1960s by Richard Nelson, first chair of the art department and namesake of the gallery where the You See exhibit opened in September -- are considered to be among the most influential artists ever to live and work in Northern California. They are credited with establishing UC Davis as an art center in its own right, with its own style, separate from the San Francisco Bay Area.

A brief look at the artists:

• Thiebaud, one of the most popular and respected American painters of the last century. He continues to teach at UC Davis.
• Neri, regarded as one of America's most important figurative sculptors and the leading Latino artist of his generation. He was a faculty member for 25 years.
• Wiley, who developed perhaps the most original and influential drawing style of his time, spent a decade teaching and creating art on the Davis campus.
• Arneson played a critical role in the elevation of ceramics from craft to fine art. The creator of the campus's Eggheads was a faculty member until his death at age 62.
• De Forest, who taught at UC Davis for nearly 30 years, amassed a body of work that continues to reflect and shape Northern California culture today.

On the Net: nelsongallery.ucdavis.edu

TRIBUTE, FORUM AND EXHIBIT

TRIBUTE TO ROY DE FOREST: 4-5 p.m. Nov. 13, lobby, Art Building. Speakers: Manuel Neri, William T. Wiley and another former art faculty member, Squeak Carnwath; Mike Henderson, art professor; Craig Nagasawa, master of fine arts alumnus; Jessie Ann Owens, dean, Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; and Lucy Puls, chair, Department of Art and Art History.

FORUM@MC: 6 p.m. Nov. 13, Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. Panel discussion, free, with Wayne Thiebaud, Neri and Wiley, and moderator Michael Schwager, curator of the di Rosa Preserve, a 217-acre Napa Valley showcase for art and the environment.

YOU SEE EXHIBITION: Open through Dec. 9, Nelson Gallery, 124 Art Building. Extended hours Nov. 13, to 6 p.m. (regular hours 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday).