Current Exhibitions
Phillip Byrne, Beatriz Cortez, Kang Seung Lee, Candice Lin: Entangled Writing
Entangled Writing features four California artists working in sculpture and installation: Phillip Byrne (M.F.A. ’22), Associate Professor of Art Beatriz Cortez, Kang Seung Lee and Candice Lin. Each artist will present a new installation specially commissioned for this exhibition — the largest group of works the Manetti Shrem Museum has commissioned at one time. All four artists focus on underrecognized histories and those in the margins while simultaneously envisioning new, speculative futures.
Curated by Susie Kantor, associate curator and exhibition department head
On view August 8–December 29, 2024
Read 'Entangled Writing' Exhibit Elicits New Ways of Thinking About Communication: Letters & Science magazine
Read the news release
Light into Density:
Abstract Encounters 1920s–1960s
From the Collection of Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem
Start with dedicated art lovers and philanthropists Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem. Add 15 works from their collection by world-renowned artists — including Salvador Dalí, Vassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Francis Bacon. Top off with 32 UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students studying studio art, art history and design. Result: A unique exhibition entirely curated and designed by students. The profound and exhilarating works in the exhibition, most on public view for the first time in decades, invite visitors to encounter the deeply personal nature of abstraction and to create their own interpretations.
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.
On view September 19, 2024–May 5, 2025
Ritual Clay: Cathy Lu, Paz G, Maryam Yousif
Ritual Clay brings together recent ceramic work by Cathy Lu, Paz G and Maryam Yousif. These contemporary Bay Area artists are united by their shared interest in clay as a link to the past and as a conduit of cultural knowledge. They channel ancient archetypes and spiritual mythologies as a way to reckon with inherited histories. For each of them, there is power in clay’s iconographic as well as ritualistic past that opens a path for exploration of their own origin stories.
Curated by Ginny Duncan, curatorial assistant
On view September 19–December 29, 2024
Also on view
Fired Up: Early Ceramics at UC Davis
Collections Classroom
In the 1960s and ’70s, UC Davis was at the forefront of a radical evolution in the discipline of ceramics. Davis was fertile ground for experimentation, and the school became a hub for students, faculty and visiting professors who flaunted the established rules. Playful, absurd and surreal, this selection of pieces from the Fine Arts Collection showcases artists who were teaching and making within artistic circles around Davis. Their work embodies the defiant spirit of a generation whose lasting impact on the legacy of ceramics continues to make ripples today.
Curated by Ginny Duncan, curatorial assistant
On view through March 24, 2025