Weekender: Prized Writing, Film Series, Thiebaud Lecture and More

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Prized writing cover shot
The University Writing Program's "Prized Writing" contains work from students across campus. The cover was created by Kristen Shih, a fourth-year design and cinema and digital media double major.  

We were not going to publish The Weekender this week because of the Veteran’s Day holiday, but, here we are. The new Prized Writing collection is published, annual Thiebaud lecture is Thursday night, Shinkoskey concert and Human Rights Film Festival also on tap the same day. And there’s still lots more to do. Unfortunately, today is the last day (for now) to see the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum, which must close due to changes in Sacramento's status due to COVID restrictions. We hope the Crocker and all area museums can open again soon.

By Michelle Villagomez, News and Media Relations Intern

New ‘Prized Writing’ collection published online 

Each October, students from across campus gather to celebrate publication of their work in the University Writing Program’s (UWP) Prized Writing. The event is an acknowledgement of the students’ talents and the importance UC Davis places on writing, regardless of major. Due to COVID-19, the event honoring the writers has been postponed until spring when the print edition will be released. The new edition is now available online.

“In this strangest of academic years, our students, instructors, administrators and staff somehow managed to pull it off,” writes Gregory Miller, UWP continuing lecturer and editor of Prized Writing in the book introduction. “Over two-thirds of the student work was produced after instruction moved online. Folks scrambled to adjust; burdens were multiplied, assignments modified, but excellence was expected. And excellence was achieved — as you will see for yourself.

The 31st volume includes creative nonfiction, journalism, medical case study, scientific literature review, legal analysis, a public health proposal, oral history, critical theory and autobiographical essays. Topics range from the mating habits of birds to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi; international trophy hunting to a loving portrait of an Indian grandmother; fentanyl addiction to the use of video games in education; and sexual harassment to weasels in medieval French literature.

More information on ‘Prized Writing’ and the history of the UWP: Read story by Jeffrey Day here.

Noon concert features violin and piano

Shinkoskey Noon Concert: Music For Violin and Piano, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, Thursday, Nov. 12, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, online via Youtube

  • The concert will feature violist and UC Davis lecturer in music, Dagenais Smiley, playing the violin and Sacramento State piano professor and staff pianist, John Cozza, playing the piano. They will perform Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 3 (“Ballade”) and Bartók: Contrasts.
  • For more information on the event, click here. If you miss the concert, the video will be posted here

Next week: Shinkoskey Noon Concert: Flute and Violin Duets, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, Thursday, Nov. 19, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., free, online via Youtube

  • Featuring flutist and UC Davis Lecturer in music, Stacey Pelinka, playing the flute and Joe Edelberg, playing the violin. They will perform works by composer Piazzolla, plus French baroque, Irish tunes, duets by Telemann, opera duets, and Carlos Simon’s: New Work, written for Stacey through composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s #GLFCAMGigThruCOVID initiative, which aims to give opportunities to performers in the period of COVID through Frank’s Creative Academy of Music.
  • For more information on the event, click here. If you miss the concert, the video will be posted here.
     

Mondavi offers table-top Shakespeare at home ends this weekend

Live Streamed from Sheffield, London & Berlin

Originally conceived in 2015, Complete Works features six performers who create condensed versions of all of the Shakespeare plays, comically and intimately retelling them, using a collection of everyday objects as stand-ins for the characters on the stage made from a tabletop.

More information on Complete Works here

Complete Works this week; all are at noon

Thu, Nov. 12:  Taming of the Shrew

Fri, Nov. 13:  The Comedy of Errors

Sat, Nov. 14: Timon of Athens

Sun, Nov. 15:  The Tempest - followed by a post-show discussion*

Nigerian American artist will give Thiebaud Endowed Lecture Thursday

By Jeffrey Day, College of Letters and Science

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose art negotiates the cultural terrain between her adopted home in the United States and her native Nigeria through collage and photo transfer-based paintings, will give the seventh annual Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture at UC Davis Thursday, Nov. 12 at 4:30 p.m.

This year’s online free lecture celebrates art Professor Emeritus Wayne Thiebaud’s 100th birthday on Nov. 16. Click here for more information and to register.

Akunyili Crosby is a recipient of a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship; a 2020 Carnegie Corporation “Great Immigrant, Great American” Award; a Financial Times’ 2016 Women of the Year award; and a 2019 African Art Award.

Drawing on political, personal and art historical references, Akunyili Crosby creates densely layered, figurative compositions focused on interiors and everyday scenes that reflect the complexity of contemporary experience, her own cross-cultural experiences and Nigeria’s thorny history. The artworks showing families watching television, friends socializing, couples sharing intimate moments, or lone figures lost in thought are constructed of family portraits, snapshots and images from Nigerian movies, advertisements and history. See full story here.

Coming up: Opening Jan. 31, 2021, Wayne Thiebaud Influencer: A New Generation features works by contemporary artists who have been inspired by Thiebaud as a fellow painter as well as former students who learned directly from the master teacher.

With the Crocker closing due to COVID restriction, you can, in the meantime, check out the Crocker Art Museum’s: Wayne Thiebaud 100 Virtual 3D tour. You can now view the collection in the safety of your own home using the self-guided 3D tour or just view the collection here.

UC Davis Humanities Institute/Human Rights Film Festival begins today

This 13-day festival brings a selection of human rights watch films to screen remotely. Question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers and scholars are from 5:10 p.m to 6 p.m. for the events Nov. 16-20. For more information visit the UC Davis Humanities Institute

View the full catalog of films here. All films will be available to screen on Thursday, Nov. 12 through Tuesday, Nov. 24. 

Films include:

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