Fall exhibitions

Three exhibitions featuring paintings from world-renowned artists, new sculpture and installation commissions, and large-scale ceramics debut this fall at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California, Davis.

“We are thrilled to bring museum visitors new perspectives, new works and new futures through three very different dynamic exhibitions,” said Susie Kantor, associate curator and exhibitions department head. “Light into Density is the first student-curated and student-designed exhibition from a private collection of 20th century works shown together for the first time. Ritual Clay: Cathy Lu, Paz G, Maryam Yousif features a new generation of exciting young artists in our region who are on the cusp of reaching a larger national audience, continuing Davis’ legacy as a hotbed for creativity in ceramics.”

“And Entangled Writing opens a portal to new and imagined worlds, allowing us to envision different futures and shine a light in difficult times,” said Kantor, who curated Entangled Writing.

Light into Density: Abstract Encounters 1920–1960 / From the Collection of Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem 
September 19, 2024–May 5, 2025
Curated by students in the Fall 2023 Exhibition Practicum course led by Assistant Professor Alexandra Sofroniew and designed by students in the Winter 2024 Exhibition Design course led by Professor Timothy McNeil and Associate Professor Brett Snyder

Light into Density is the museum’s first student-curated and student-designed exhibition. Most of the 15 paintings—including works by Francis Bacon, Salvador Dalí, Vassily Kandinsky, Wifredo Lam and Joan Miró—are on public view for the first time in decades. Thirty-two undergraduate and graduate students worked on the exhibition throughout the past year. Their goal was to demystify abstract art and to encourage visitors’ personal interpretations.

The works in Light into Density come from the collection of art lovers and museum founding donors Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, and are shared between the Manetti Shrem Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—the two museums the couple has supported the most.

“I am so delighted this exhibition is happening after 30 years,” said Manetti Shrem, who this year made a landmark gift  to support arts programs and students at UC Davis. “It’s the first time these unparalleled works of 20th century art will be shown together. It’s also very special that UC Davis students worked to curate such a unique exhibition.”

Ritual Clay: Cathy Lu, Paz G, Maryam Yousif
September 19–December 29, 2024
Curator: Ginny Duncan

This exhibition features three contemporary Bay Area ceramic artists who use clay to explore how their identities and experiences intersect with themes of immigration, dislocation and cultural hybridity. Cathy Lu, Paz G and Maryam Yousif channel ancient archetypes and spiritual mythologies as a way to reckon with inherited histories.

Phillip Byrne, Beatriz Cortez, Kang Seung Lee Candice Lin: Entangled Writing
On view through December 29, 2024
Curator: Susie Kantor 

Presenting the largest group of works the museum has commissioned to date, Entangled Writing spotlights four California artists working in sculpture and installation who are making a splash on the international arts scene: Kang Seung Lee and Beatriz Cortez (UC Davis associate professor of art), both of whom are featured in the current Venice Biennale; Candice Lin, who were in 2022’s biennale; and recent UC Davis MFA graduate Phillip Byrne. The exhibition explores the way that people and objects move across time and space, allowing for multiple potentialities to exist.

A daylong free public opening with artists, students and curators in conversation, as well as live music and art activities, takes place from 10am to 5pm at the museum on Sunday, September 29.

The Manetti Shrem Museum is free for all. Media contact: Laura Compton, llcompton [​at​] ucdavis.edu.