Visiting Artist Lecture with Kang Seung Lee

• Thursday, March 7, 4:30-6 p.m., the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, free

Kang Seung Lee is a multidisciplinary artist whose work frequently engages the legacy of transnational queer histories, particularly as they intersect with art history. In 2023, Lee had solo exhibitions and projects at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, and Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles. His work will be part of a Fall 2024 exhibition at the Manetti Shrem Museum.

Organized by the Department of Art and Art History. Supported by the UC Davis College of Letters and Science and co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.

Spark Your March with Art Spark

 

Saturdays and Sundays 1-4 p.m., Carol and Gerry Parker Art Studio at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Free

This March, the theme is Yo Soy ___. Create a print that expresses who you are, completing the phrase in Malaquias Montoya’s Yo Soy Chicano with a part of your identity you want to honor.

Musics of the World at Pitzer Center

Thursday, March 7, 4-6 p.m., Ann E Pitzer Center, free

Program

Gamelan • Heni Savitri, director (lobby)

Afro-Cuban • Brian Rice, director

Hindustani • Rita Sahai, director

— PAUSE —

Bluegrass and Old Time String Band • Scott Linford, director

Mariachi • Tito Talamantes, director

Smooth Criminal, A Hip Hop Musical Theatre Workshop

March 7-9, 7-8 p.m., Wyatt Pavilion, UC Davis, free

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, internationally acclaimed Hip Hop performer/creator and alumnus Dahlak Brathwaite returns to UC Davis for a five-week workshop of select scenes and songs from a new Hip Hop musical Smooth Criminal.

Featuring book and lyrics by Aaron Jafferis and music by Dahlak Brathwaite and Daniel Bernard Roumain, Smooth Criminal is a music-theatre work about Aaron, a nerdy white guy desperate to liberate his people – as soon as he can figure out who they are. Five actors and a musician try to undo Aaron’s family’s twisted relationship with race and money, but his family has other plans.

UC Davis Symphony Orchestra explores 'New Frontiers' in concert

Saturday, March 9, 7-8 p.m., Jackson Hall, the Mondavi Center, tickets starting at $12

Image courtesy of Dahlak Brathwaite

The concert, conceived of and conducted by orchestra music director and music professor Christian Baldini, includes “in the valley of the shadow” by Maya Miro Johnson. In the work, which was commissioned by the orchestra, the composer approaches music composition from an interdisciplinary space, as she says, “without restraint, and often concerning unanswerable questions about the human condition and its biological systems.”

Program:

• Maya Miro Johnson: in the valley of the shadow (World Premiere)
• Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major with Roger Xia
• Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1

Buy Tickets Here: UC Davis Symphony Orchestra | Mondavi Center

New exhibit at the Transmission Gallery: Uncertain Navigation

March 7 - April 20, The Transmission Gallery, Oakland

Artist Reception: Saturday March 23, 1-4 p.m.

Transmission Gallery presents Uncertain Navigation, a solo exhibition by Lynn Beldner in our small space gallery, March 7 - April 20, 2024. The exhibition features a collection of Beldner’s delicate and sensitive works elevating the modest artifacts of daily life. Encapsulated, isolated, yet placed in conjunction, the careful attention Beldner brings to each element points the way to its meaning and value.

Beldner says of her work:

My work is diaristic and immediate.  I incorporate sewing and drawing often combining textile, paper, and objects.  The discarded, broken, or unnoticed objects are part of my vocabulary. The mundane detritus has new importance.  My work investigates the passing of time, aging, fragility, identity, history, memory, healing, and storytelling.

New exhibit at the Gorman Museum: curatorial tour

Sunday, March 10, 2-3 p.m., The Gorman Museum, UC Davis, free

The Gorman Museum of Native American Art at the University of California, Davis, continues the celebration of its 50th anniversary by presenting Reflecting Lenses: Twenty Years of Photography at the Gorman Museum. The exhibition draws from the museum’s permanent collection which has been built extensively over the past twenty years through international engagement with contemporary photographers. New projects and iconic works have been generously loaned from artists and private collectors.

Tour the exhibition with the museum’s new curator, Polly Nordstrand (Hopi), to explore themes present in the works.

See the full story on the current exhibition.

Film screening on the roots of country music

Sunday, March 10, 6:30 p.m., Davis Odd Fellows 415 Second Street, tickets $10

Filmmakers and professors Glenda Drew and Jesse Drew have completed a project decades in the making — a documentary about the roots of American Country Music titled Open Country. It tells a longer arc of country music that is not rooted in ‘God and Country’ but in working class people telling their stories, seeking freedom from government interference and a good, dignified life.

Open Country is being screened at the Davis Odd Fellows and will be preceded by a performance with Casey Thompson and special guest Connie Reeder. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit KDRT 95.7FM, a local low-power grassroots radio station.

Buy Tickets Here: Open Country | Davis Media Access

Next week

Student chamber ensembles and recitals

Tuesday, March 12, 12:05-2 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free

Pete Nowlen, coordinator

Student Recital: Josie Schneider on the Flute Wednesday

Wednesday, March 13, 1-2 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free

With Karen Rosenak, piano

Library Exhibit

Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, through March 22, Shields Library, UC Davis

“Heaven and Earth in a Small Pot” features art objects and rare books from the Global Tea Institute’s Collection of Art and Material Objects. The exhibit is on view through winter quarter in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room of Shields Library on the UC Davis campus. Open hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m.

The exhibit was curated by:

• Hunter Kiley, M.A. ‘23, Art History and Global Tea Institute assistant
• Jingwei Zeng, visiting intern in the Department of Art History

Grupo Corpo Performance at Mondavi Wednesday

Wednesday, March 13, 7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall, the Mondavi Center, tickets starting at $30

A Grupo Corpo performance is a microcosm of Brazil itself: exuberant and rhythmic, proudly multicultural and infused with an indomitable, infectious spirit. ...

The wholly original style of founders Paulo and Rodrigo Pederneiras joins modern movement with the complexity of Afro-Brazilian dance, captivating audiences with stunning physicality, dynamic staging and the wonders of Brazilian rhythms. The large, spirited ensemble presents two recent pieces in this return Mondavi Center appearance.

Get Tickets Here: Grupo Corpo | Mondavi Center

Read the performance program Digital Program PDF

Coming up

Tord Gustavsen Trio at Mondavi

March 14-16, 7:30 p.m., Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, The Mondavi Center

Often with just a few carefully chosen notes, Norwegian jazz pianist Tord Gustavsen draws listeners into a world where melody is cherished as much as the freedom to explore textures and soundscapes. ...

Taking care to play only that which says something, and leaving space for listeners to savor what has been said, his bands unite beauty and emotional intensity in their playing and improvisation. His two Mondavi Center appearances have been spiritual moments for many audience members, a very intentional effect. “For me,” he says, “playing the piano is very similar to a meditation or prayer.”

Buy Tickets Here: Tord Gustavsen Trio | Mondavi Center

Photo courtesy of the mondavi center

The Mondavi Center Presents Danú

Sunday, March 17, 7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall, The Mondavi Center, tickets from $25

Celebrate the day of the year when everyone is a little Irish with Danú, one of Ireland’s most acclaimed traditional music ensembles.

For two decades, this band hailing from County Waterford has been entertaining audiences internationally with its breathtaking vocals in Irish and English and virtuoso performances on flute, tin whistle, button accordion and bouzouki. Irish Music Magazine rightly praises that Danú “stirs the blood and lifts the heart.”

Ciarán Ó Gealbháin, the original lead singer of Danú, will join the group in place of Nell Ní Chróinín. Dr. O’Gealbhain is a lecturer in the Department of Folklore and Ethnology, University College Cork, where his doctoral research focused on aspects of the Déise song tradition.

• Buy Tickets Here: Danú | Mondavi Center
• Read the PDF of the performance here: Digital Program PDF
• Watch Danú on Youtube: Danú-Murphys Hornpipe/Lord Gordons Reel

Ongoing exhibit at Sheilds Library: Heaven and Earth in a Small Pot

Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, through March 22, Shields Library, UC Davis

“Heaven and Earth in a Small Pot” features art objects and rare books from the Global Tea Institute’s Collection of Art and Material Objects. The exhibit is on view through winter quarter in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room of Shields Library on the UC Davis campus. Open hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m.

The exhibit was curated by:

• Hunter Kiley, M.A. ‘23, Art History and Global Tea Institute assistant
• Jingwei Zeng, visiting intern in the Department of Art History