EXHIBITIONS: Shields Library delves into 'steampunk'

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Graphic: Worlds of Steampunk
Graphic: Worlds of Steampunk

Shields Library has gone “steampunk” in a new exhibition for the fall and winter quarters.

Rooted in science fiction, “steampunk” (incorporating fantasy, alternate history and fantastic technology, akin to The Time Machine) has spawned a subculture with its own fashion style, which, like the fiction, draws inspiration from the technological advances of the Industrial Revolution and the 19th century.

Also new at the library: College to Work, celebrating National Disability Awareness Month and California Disability History Week.

College to Work: Postsecondary Students and Graduates in the Work ForceThe “College to Work” theme comes from the campus’s Disability Awareness Fall Symposium, which presented two UC Davis “success stories”: a Ph.D. student in chemistry who is blind, and a medical student who has profound hearing loss. Read the Dateline UC Davis story. Fall quarter.

Worlds of Steampunk: Fiction, Art, Fashion and Culture It started as a subgenre of science fiction in the 1980s — incorporating fantasy, alternate history and fantastic technology, inspired by the advances of the Industrial Revolution and the late 19th century. Like its antecedents, including the novels of Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and H.G. Wells (The Time Machine), steampunk fiction features dirigibles, balloons, everything powered by steam, and mechanical contraptions of all kinds. You can see it today in movies and art — and in an entire subculture with its own fashion style (goggles, corsets, fancy top hats, and all manner of mechanical accessories decorated with wheels, cogs, gears, clockworks and other imaginative devices). Exhibit prepared by Roberto C. Delgadillo and Marcia Meister, Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Information Service. Fall and winter quarters.

See more listings for Shields Library below.

OFF CAMPUS

Professor Emeritus Malaquias Montoya has an exhibition at a Davis gallery, where a reception is scheduled for tonight (Oct. 12) as part of the 2nd Friday ArtAbout.

Three other faculty members — Glenda Drew, Jesse Drew and Annabeth Rosen — are exhibiting their works at two Sacramento galleries, each of which plans a reception during the Second Saturday Art Walk (Oct. 13).

Next week, Rosen is scheduled to give a lecture at the gallery that is hosting her exhibition, and Glenda and Jesse Drew are due to present a live cinema program at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.

• Malaquias Montoya: Women That I Have Encountered — Exploring women’s impact on community and how their determination and sacrifice add to the energy, vigor and success of culture. Through Nov. 25, Pence Gallery, 212 D St. Reception, 6-9 p.m. Friday (Oct. 12). Regular hours: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.

The gallery also announced a talk and book-signing program, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, with Montoya and Terezita Romo, author of Malaquias Montoya, volume 6 in the series A Ver: Revisioning Art History, published by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press.

Montoya taught at UC Davis full time for 20 years in affiliation with Chicana/o studies (full professor) and the Department of Art (cooperating faculty). He has worked for more than four decades in a variety of media, from drawings and paintings to murals and prints.

• Food for Thought — A series of visual works by Glenda Drew, exploring the topic of labor in the U.S. food system. Drew is an associate professor of visual communication in the Department of Design. Food for Thought includes a motion-based, asynchronous gallery of contemporary food service workers from a wide gamut of restaurant. Drew wrote in her artist statement: “We are invited to hear the concerns, hopes and dreams of people who hoist the trays, clear the tables and wash the dishes.”

• Winter in America: 1974-1975 — From Jesse Drew’s artist statement: After living in communes in California and New England, and seeing the collapse of the communal infrastructure, he set off “to see if there was still a utopian pulse to be found in America.” In this exhibition, he presents photographs from his journey. He is an associate professor of technocultural studies.

The husband-and-wife faculty members are presenting their exhibitions at the Sol Collective, 2574 21st St. (off Broadway), Sacramento. Closing reception, 2-6 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 13). Regular hours: 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Open Country Preview, with live music by the Alkali Flats — The Drews present excerpts from their film examining the social, political and historical roots of country-western music, through archival footage, conversations with folklorists, historians and fans, and the music itself, and discuss their research for the film. the film. The evening program also includes music by the Alkali Flats. 7-9 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 18), Crocker Art Museum, 216 O St., Sacramento. Advance tickets are available online or by calling (916) 808-1182. Space is limited.

• Common Bond — Works by art professor Annabeth Rosen, who holds the Robert Arneson Chair in Ceramic Sculpture. Through Oct. 21, Center for Contemporary Arts, 1519 19th St., Sacramento. Reception, 7-8 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 13). Artist lecture, 7-8 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 18). Regular hours: noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday and 6-9 p.m. for the Second Saturday Art Walk.

ON CAMPUS

The Design Museum holds an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 18) for Serigrafía, an exhibition of information design in printmaking, a traditional and powerful communication tool in California’s Latino culture. The exhibtion runs through Dec. 7 at the museum in Cruess Hall. Regular hours: noon-4 p.m. Monday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday.

Related event: Lecture by Carol Wells, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, about California's Latina/o printmaking community, 4:20-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, 217 Art Building.

• Farm to School Across the Lifespan — Photo essay by Craft Center volunteer Julia Luckenbill, infant-toddler program coordinator and demonstration lecturer at UC Davis’ Center for Child and Family Studies. Through Nov. 2, Craft Center Gallery, South Silo. Regular hours: 12:30-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 12:30-7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

• Out of Line: A Show of Extended Drawing Practices — Drawing, one of the oldest art forms, continues to evolve — as shown by eight artists who have extended the medium to the very large scale. Sept. 27-Dec. 16, Nelson Gallery, Nelson Hall. Regular hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday, and Friday by appointment.

• Salt-Bitter-Edge-Red Streak into the = Water Girl: Works of Melanie Yazzie — In this printmaking series, the Navajo artist considers her experiences since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She reflects upon her life today, developing new ways of living in Denver, while she remembers the events and people of her childhood and home on the Navajo Nation. Through Dec. 7, C.N. Gorman Museum, 1316 Hart Hall. Artist talk and reception, 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 20. Regular hours: noon-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday.

Read more about the campus's fall exhibitions.

MORE AT SHIELDS LIBRARY

Following the Great Migration: Researching the 2012 Campus Community Book Project Book Library resources that complement the 2012 section, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson's award-winning study of the Great Migration, the movement of almost 6 million African-Americans from the South from 1915 to 1970. Display assembled by David Michalski, social and cultural studies librarian, who also has compiled an online resource guide, including parallel texts for examining and interpreting the Great Migration's profound influence on American society and culture. The online guide also includes interviews with Wilkerson, a list of influential books on the Great Migration, and links to archival sources and other research tools that can help animate the discussion of this year's book. For more information about the exhibition and-or the online research guide, send an email to the Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Services Department, hssref@lib.ucdavis.edu. Fall and winter quarters.

UC Davis Traditions Past and Present A sampling from the photograph collection of the university archives, keeper of such memories as Labor Day, Frosh Dinks, Tank Rush, Frosh-Soph Brawl and Wild West Days. Exhibit prepared by Sara Gunasekara, collections manager. For more information or to share your memories of UC Davis traditions, send an email to Special Collections, speccoll@ucdavis.edu. Fall quarter.

The Shields Library exhibitions are in the lobby. Regular hours: 7:30 a.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-midnight Sunday. Holidays and other exceptions.

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Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu

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