UC Davis Graduate Exhibition Moves Online May 28

Press release from the University of California, Davis:

May 22, 2020

Editors: Photos are available here.

Graduate students in the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis, aren’t letting the lack of a physical space stop them from celebrating and sharing their work with the public. The Arts & Humanities 2020 Graduate Exhibition, usually held at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, will instead take place on the museum website May 28-June 14.

The virtual exhibition will feature individual galleries for 29 students in seven disciplines — art, design, art history, music, Native American studies, creative writing and cultural studies. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 and remote planning, the same number of departments are participating as in years past, with the Department of Native American Studies joining for the first time.

“Creating this online exhibition required major coordination and significant support,” said Rachel Teagle, founding director of the museum. “The Office of the Chancellor and Provost and the College of Letters and Science dean’s office partnered with the museum because we are all committed to the vision of an interdisciplinary exhibition that serves all graduates in the arts and humanities at UC Davis. Everyone involved, especially the students, wanted this to be a real, but unique exhibition that stood on its own.”

The students took varied approaches to their work and its presentation, given the unusual circumstances. Web galleries will include photographs and videos of art and artmaking as well as photos and videos that are the artworks themselves, along with audio recordings, recorded presentations of research, and written statements. The exhibition will include a piece that explores an artist’s family’s farm roots, an app that allows one to share memories after death, a reimagining of famous historical photos of Native Americans, and a “flash fiction” story about a dead woman on a road trip.

As in years past, the majority of the participants are from studio art, with eight participants, and design, with 10 participants. Also taking part are five art history students, two doctoral music composition students, two creative writing students, and one each from Native American studies and cultural studies.

Live opening Thursday, May 28

A live opening celebration will be held online Thursday, May 28, at 7 p.m. It will include welcome remarks and the announcement of the Keister & Allen Art Purchase Prize for studio art and the Savageau Award for design. Pre-registration for the Zoom webinar is required.

This press release was produced by the University of California, Davis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.