Winter 2025 Programs
All programs are in person at the museum unless otherwise noted.
Download our Winter 2025 program brochure (pdf).
The Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture
Enrique Chagoya
Thursday, January 30
4:30 PM
Enrique Chagoya is a Mexican-born American painter, printmaker and educator. Using his art to comment on social and environmental issues, Chagoya juxtaposes secular, popular and religious symbols to address the ongoing cultural clash between the United States, Latin America and the world. His prints, drawings, collages and multiples offer critical commentary on the US global reach. This year’s Thiebaud Endowed lecturer, Chagoya is a professor of art at Stanford University.
Organized by the Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio Program. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
The Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Lecture in the Theory, Practice and Criticism of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture celebrate the Thiebauds’ longtime commitment to educating the eye and hand, along with the mind. The annual lecture series presents practicing artists, along with critics, curators, writers, historians, and museum professionals.
Covered: Spotlighting Faculty Authors in Letters and Science
Charlotte Biltekoff: Real Food, Real Facts
Tuesday, February 4
4:30–7:30 PM
Join us for an engaging evening featuring American Studies and Darrell Corti Endowed Professor in Food Wine and Culture Charlotte Biltekoff. The author of Real Food, Real Facts (UC Press, 2024), Biltekoff will discuss the powerful forces shaping consumer perceptions of processed food and the food industry’s campaign against “misinformation.” Graduate Food Studies Reading Group members Elizabeth McQueen (postdoctoral fellow) and Stace Baran (Ph.D. candidate, English) will give opening remarks. Following her talk, Biltekoff will be joined in conversation by acclaimed author and scholar Julie Guthman (Agrarian Dreams, Weighing In, The Problem with Solutions), known for her critical insights into food justice, knowledge politics and capitalism. Together, they will explore the intersections of food, health and politics, challenging perceptions of both the public and experts in the food system. Light refreshments will be served following the conversation.
Organized by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the Intersections. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum and UC Davis Library. This talk is the first in the new Covered: Spotlighting Faculty Authors in Letters and Science series. Registration for this event via Eventbrite is recommended but not required: https://foodfacts.eventbrite.com.
Art Jam: Print Social
Thursday, February 20
6–9 PM
Join us for a sweet combination of free food and art, featuring a mix of creative projects from UC Davis student groups.
Enjoy recent film projects by the Davis Filmmaking Society, and have a print party with the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum and Aggie Reuse! Make something unique with specially designed screenprint and block print designs—you can even bring an item of clothing to print on and refresh with a new look.
Art Jam is an experimental, semi-improvised gathering of people making things for fun. Occasionally, the cast of collaborators grows from the time this is printed. Follow @manettishrem on Instagram to stay up to date!
Templeton Colloquium 2025
Cultural Heritage at Stake: Between Conservation and Criminality
Friday, February 21
4–6 PM
6–7 PM Reception
Threats to cultural heritage are on the rise globally, due to factors such as war, intentional destruction, unfettered development and climate change. International cultural heritage institutions and their methods seem inadequate at best, complicit at worst. Join two of the most incisive voices in cultural heritage debates today to explore the stakes for its protection worldwide.
Lynn Meskell, Richard D. Green Professor of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences at University of Pennsylvania, also serves as Professor of Historic Preservation and curator in the Middle East and Asia sections at the Penn Museum. Her talk, "RUINED: How and Why We Weaponize the Past," examines the roles of two intersecting international organizations that seek to combat the fallout from ruin warfare and their respective aspirations for mission success. The first, UNESCO, established after World War II and dedicated to world peace through culture and co-operation, has inherited a ruinous legacy of war and destruction. The other is NATO, a Cold War military alliance that must now confront cultural heritage in both its protective and punitive missions.
Hrag Vartanian, is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic, a leading digital platform for contemporary art criticism. He is widely recognized for his curatorial work, writings on the intersection of art and politics, and extensive lecturing.
Organized by Heghnar Watenpaugh, professor of art and architectural history.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History and the Manetti Shrem Museum.
Campus Community Book Project
Chronic Pain: A Comedy
Tuesday, February 25
6 PM–7:30 PM
Back by popular demand to the UC Davis campus! In Chronic Pain: A Comedy, Karma Waltonen delivers a stand-up comedy performance about being a chronic pain patient.
Dr. Karma Waltonen is a continuing lecturer in the University Writing Program and has taught at UC Davis since 2000. Waltonen publishes and teaches on a wide variety of topics and interests, including The Simpsons, stand-up comedy, time travel in Star Trek, the ethics of religious cults in Doctor Who, asexuality in Sherlock and postmodernism in The X Files. Waltonen is the longtime editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Margaret Atwood Studies and also speaks at various ComicCons and at international conferences.
In 2024-25, the Campus Community Book Project is reading Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society by Arline Geronimus and features a year-long program on the theme of health equity and justice. The Book Project is administered by the Office of Campus and Community Relations in the UC Davis Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Organized by the UC Davis Campus Community Book Project. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
Register (optional) for this event and find other Campus Community Book Project events at UC Davis Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Art of Athletes
Wednesday, February 26
6–7:30 PM
Art of Athletes celebrates the multifaceted talents and identities of Division I student-athletes. In this 16th year of the show, you can explore the artwork of student-athletes across 25 teams featuring different artistic mediums, meet many of the artists, and make art of your own.
Organized by UC Davis Athletics. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
California Studio Lecture
Torkwase Dyson
Thursday, February 27
4:30–6 PM
Torkwase Dyson describes herself as a painter working across multiple mediums to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Her abstract works examine human geography and the history of Black spatial liberation strategies, often grappling with the ways in which space is perceived, imagined and negotiated particularly by black and brown bodies. Dyson is the winter quarter spotlight artist in residence in The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies.
Organized by The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies in the Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio Program. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum
Department of Art and Art History Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Linda Sormin
Thursday, March 6
4:30–6 PM
Linda Sormin is a visual artist who creates sculptures and site-responsive installations using raw clay, fired ceramics, found objects and interactive methods. Her work explores themes of fragility, upheaval and transformation that reflect her diasporic experiences. She is an associate professor of studio art and head of ceramics at New York University. Her work is included in the permanent collections of institutions including the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Organized by the Department of Art and Art History and supported by the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
Finals Study Break: Crochet Circle
Monday, March 10
3–6 PM
As the end of the quarter approaches, pop by the museum to relax and unwind (some yarn) with the Davis Triceratops to give your brain a break from studying. Learn a new skill and start a new project (or work on one you already have going) and emerge refreshed to tackle your finals prep.
The Manetti Shrem Museum is committed to keeping our visitors and staff safe and healthy by following UC Davis’ COVID-19 protocols.