Visiting artist lecture series features USC prof
Edgar Arceneaux mixes drawing, sculpture, video, film and performance to explore how we construct history and memory in a racially divided country. His work has been shown at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Performa 15, New York; the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, among other venues. From 1999 to 2012, he was director of the Watts House Project in Los Angeles, an initiative to remodel houses around the Watts Towers. He is an associate professor at University of Southern California.
- Thursday, April 4, 4:30 p.m.
- Manetti Shrem Museum, Community Education Room, 51ԹϺ Davis
Arceneaux’s appearance is co-sponsored by the 51ԹϺ Davis Humanities Institute and the Manetti Shrem Museum.
Noon concert Thursday; faculty recital Friday is by Susan Lamb Cook, cellist
Plenty of music coming our way beginning Thursday at noon with the always-free Shinkoskey Noon Concert. Sinfonia Spirituosa features Lorna Peters, artistic director, and works by Henry Purcell and Jean-Philippe Rameau, with guest bass-baritone Daniel Yoder. Sinfonia Spirituosa is a chamber orchestra dedicated to presenting bold, historically informed performances on period instruments. Through a vibrant and collegial exchange, the group aspires to faithfully bring to life the broad spectrum of color, affect, and rhetoric in the music of the Baroque era, and to share their passion for performing this period’s extraordinary variety of repertoire with the diverse audiences of today.
51ԹϺ Davis faculty affiliate Susan Lamb Cook, cello, will be performing in this Friday’s faculty recital, , (7 p.m. Pitzer) as well as the Great Composers Chamber Music Series at the at Folsom Lake College, on Sunday, April 7.
At the Pitzer on Friday, Lamb Cook will be joined by longtime musical collaborator Gayle Blankenburg of Scripps College in Southern California and violinist Igor Veligian of the University of the Pacific.
On the program will be pieces composed by 51ԹϺ Davis Professor of Music Emeritus Ross Bauer, founding 51ԹϺ Davis Professor of Music Jerome Rosen (1921-2011), current Professor of Music Pablo Ortiz, New York composer David Lang (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2008) and the Piano Trio in B Flat Major by classical-era great Franz Schubert.
Tickets at Pitzer are $24 general, with discounts for students, available at the door, or 530-754-2787.
'HellaCappella 2019' is Friday, April 5
The Spokes (“the premiere all-female a cappella group at 51ԹϺ Davis”), annually hosts and features other all-female groups from all over the West Coast. They do that Friday, April 5, 7:30 p.m., Mondavi Center (Jackson Hall)
This year’s lineup includes groups with names like Divisi, On The Rocks, The Afterglow, Ninth Street Hooligans, Dil Se and Cloud 9. There’s usually a large and enthusiastic audience (including many university students) on hand.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door, with discounts for students and children ($16 in advance and $21 at the door), available at or 530-754-2787.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Performs at Mondavi Saturday
This program will feature the final symphony (the seventh) by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) and two works by Russian composers — the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) in 1934 in Switzerland, and the Symphony No. 5 by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), composed in 1944 toward the end of World War II. perf
Both Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev left their homeland after the Soviet Revolution of 1917. Rachmaninoff never went back and settled in the United States. Prokofiev lived for a time in the United States, Germany and France, but returned to the Soviet Union in 1936. Saturday, April 6, 8 p.m., Mondavi Center (Jackson Hall)
Tickets are $55 to $150 general (with discounts for students), available at or 530-754-2787.
More , including ticket purchase.
Opening Thursday: Unseen Flowers (mostly weeds)
Tired of looking at the weeds in your garden? It might improve your outlook on life if you view them as art through the eyes of Robert F. Norris, photographer and retired weed scientist (professor emeritus) from the 51ԹϺ Davis Plant Sciences Department. His exhibition of photographs starts Thursday, April 4 with a reception from 4:30 to 7:30 at Buehler Alumni Center.
Catch the full story in last week's Arts Blog.
Viola Frey, Untitled (Hand Holding Vessels), circa 1965-1968, ceramic and glazes, 10 1/4 × 21 1/2 × 11 1/2 in. (26 × 54.6 × 29.2 cm) Licensed by ARS, New York
'Behind the Scenes' at Di Rosa
At di Rosa, in Napa, take a behind-the-scenes look at the care, conservation and stewardship of Viola’s Frey’s remarkable work ranging from her earlier intimate explorations in clay, bronze, painting, and drawing to her monumental figurative ceramic sculptures. The panel discussion is Saturday. Viola Frey: Center Stage is Frey’s largest assembly of works on the West Coast since 1981, including many objects never before seen by the public. This panel explores the challenges and range of expertise required to gather this unprecedented exploration of Frey’s oeuvre and legacy. Robin Bernhard, Rowan Geiger, and Cynthia De Bos; moderated by di Rosa curator Amy Owen. This event is Saturday, April 6, 2019, 3 to 5 p.m. General admission is $10, $5 for members.
About the panelists:
- Robin Bernhard is exhibitions and collections manager at di Rosa and brings over 20 years of experience in the field from past positions at 51ԹϺ Davis, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art. She received her training in preservation studies, art collection management and care of collections from the International Preservation Studies Center in Illinois.
- Rowan Geiger, director and principal conservator of SF Art Conservation, holds a Masters Degree in conservation from the Royal College of Art, London and has over 20 years of experience in the field. In addition to three years in studio training at the Victoria and Museum, London, she has held staff positions at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Stanford University Libraries, and was Head of Conservation at SFO Museum.
- Cynthia de Bos is the director of collections and archives at the Artists’ Legacy Foundation. Since 2009, she has held positions at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, and The Jay DeFeo Foundation, among others. Since joining Artists’ Legacy Foundation in 2013, de Bos has organized and expanded access to the Viola Frey Archives and acted as project manager for the Viola Frey Digital Catalogue Raisonné project. As Director of Collections and Archives, she oversees exhibition planning, scholarship, and public programming for Legacy Artist Viola Frey, as well as other Legacy building projects.
- Amy Owen is curator at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa since 2013, where she is both in charge of the collection of northern California art and head curator for temporary exhibitions. Her recent curatorial projects include Viola Frey: Center Stage (2019); the two-part exhibition, Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times (2018); Based on a True Story: Highlights from the di Rosa Collection (2017); and Equilibrium: A Paul Kos Survey (2016).
Ongoing 51ԹϺ Davis Exhibitions
- Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art: Bruce Nauman: Blue and Yellow Corridor through April 14, and Xicanx Futurity, co-curated by Chicana and Chicano studies faculty Carlos Jackson and Susy Zepeda through May 5.
- 51ԹϺ Davis Design Museum: Weaving and Woodwork: A Scandinavian Design Partnership on display through April 21.
- Cosmic Matriarchs, at TANA, through May 1.
- Unseen Flowers, Buehler Alumni Center, April 4 through May 31.
- C.N. Gorman Museum: Comings and Goings: Works on Paper by Rick Bartow through June 14.