Thiebaud Lecture Features Mexican American Painter, Printer and Educator Enrique Chagoya

Using his art to comment on social and environmental issues, Enrique Chagoya’s prints, drawings, collages and multiples offer critical commentary on the global reach of the United States and its cultural, political and historical tensions with Latin America. The artist is speaking on Thursday, Jan. 30, for the 2025 Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture at UC Davis.

Erik Contreras Combines Design, Sustainability and Open-Source Innovation in Engineering

While pursuing a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Davis, Erik Contreras, whoalso received a Master of Fine Arts degree from UC Davis' Department of Design felt a need to reconnect with the "why" behind their engineering efforts. In this Q&A, Contreras talks about their venture into the world of design and centering humanity in their engineering research.

Jan Shrem, Who Provided Legacy of Art to UC Davis, Remembered

Jan Isaac Shrem, whose passions spanned publishing, winemaking, collecting art, and philanthropy, passed away peacefully this month at the age of 94 after a long illness. Shrem leaves a legacy of art at the University of California, Davis, that will live on for generations.

M.F.A. Graduate April Camlin Constructs Tapestries of Grief and Pleasure 

A mixed media textile artist and musician, April Camlin brings her experience of grief, pleasure and pain into her work. She is a recent graduate from the M.F.A. in the Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio Program at UC Davis and the recipient of the graduate fellowship at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito. Her work is in the university's permanent collection.

'A Stela for the Stelas'

Associate Professor of Art Beatriz Cortez's piece, "Stella XX (Absence)," is a steel sculpture representative of a stela, or ancient monolith. It serves as a monument to stelas taken from Mesoamerica while also exploring absence and what it evokes. The sculpture recently debuted at the Venice Biennale’s 60th International Art Exhibition "Foreigners Everywhere.”