The Arts & Humanities 2024 Graduate Exhibition features an array of thought-provoking and sensory stimulating displays. From virtual reality and immersive audio experiences to paintings, sculptures and dioramas, students pushed through their own boundaries to produce clever, beautiful and, in some cases, chilling inventions and artwork.
Participating graduate students represent a variety of departments from within the College of Letters and Science, including anthropology, art history, art studio, comparative literature, creative writing, design and English as well as Spanish and Portuguese. Final projects will be on view through June 24 at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.
Prizes were awarded during the exhibition's opening reception at the Manetti Shrem Museum on June 6.
The LeShelle & Gary May Art Purchase Prize, the Keister & Allen Art Purchase Prize and the Savageau Award in the Department of Design are awarded each year and enable the Manetti Shrem Museum to purchase graduate student work for the university’s Fine Arts Collection.
The final award, a new addition this year and a surprise to participating students, was the Letters & Science Prize for Excellence. Created by Dean Estella Atekwana, College of Letters and Science, the Letters & Science Prize is a $2,500 prize for a graduating student in Art Studio. The purpose is to help further the career of an art studio M.F.A. graduate from UC Davis, and to encourage, recognize and celebrate creative and original contributions of the recipient.
Winners Announced
The Keister & Allen Art Purchase Prize, which started in 2017, is awarded annually to a graduating Master of Fine Arts student. Nitheen Ramalingam received the award for his body of work, “Venmani martyr’s day, 2021.” The series of figurative paintings meditates on the 2021 commemoration of the Kilvenmani martyrs, juxtaposing the joyful unity of the peasantry with a gloomy undertone hinting at the movement’s decline.
The Savageau Award for Design named for Ann Savageau, a professor in the Department of Design from 2007 to 2014, is awarded to one graduating student from the design M.F.A. program. This year's award went to Damien Mitchell, who impressed with his innovative, sustainable, thoughtful and stylish footwear designs. His display at the exhibition is called “Re/Pair: A Fusion of Handcraft and Digital Fabrication in Shoemaking.”
The LeShelle & Gary May Art Purchase Prize, made possible through the generosity of Suzanne Hellmuth and Jock M. Reynolds (art studio, M.F.A. ‘72), was awarded to April Camlin, M.F.A. in art studio. Camlin creates large-scale tapestries and stand-alone installations that combine hand-weaving and sculptural elements to help express grief and pain and also conjure resilience.
The winner of the inaugural Letters & Science Prize for Excellence was Gracianne Kirsch, M.F.A. in art studio. Kirsch is an interdisciplinary queer and trans artist, working in the mediums of painting, drawing, poetry, and video. Kirsch's work finds emphasis in depicting domestic objects and trans bodies.
See the winners' work, as well as the work of all the graduate exhibitors, at the Manetti Shrem Museum through June 24. The museum is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Monday. Admission is free.