Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis

05/01/2026

We’re thrilled to share Artforum’s review of Sahar Khoury’s “Weights & Measures” exhibition.

“Sahar Khoury is a bricoleur: an artist who finds material inspiration in depots and warehouses hawking industrial leftovers, recycled goods, and other castoffs. In “Weights and Measures,” the eight works spread throughout four galleries all give the impression of being stripped down to their essential components while also managing to convey an almost baroque sensibility, freely combining found and made elements.” - Maria Porges, Artforum

Read the review (link in bio), and make your plans now to visit “Weights & Measures,” on view through June 20, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Wednesday–Saturday.

Image credits:
(horse in gallery) Hung Q. Pham Photography

Installation view, Sahar Khoury, detail of Untitled (the elephant in the room [the tower of silence]), 2025. Steel, ceramic, speakers, motor, glass, altered spiral staircase, Palestinian olive oil from 2022, 144 1/2 x 238 x 54 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist and CANADA, Rebecca Camacho Presents, and Parker Gallery. Photo: Robert Divers Herrick.

Installation view, Sahar Khoury, Untitled (the lost files), 2025. Glazed ceramic, steel file organizer, steel chain, 58 x 14 1/2 x 14 in. Courtesy of the artist and CANADA, Rebecca Camacho Presents, and Parker Gallery. Photo courtesy of the Manetti Shrem Museum © Muzi Li Rowe.

04/28/2026

The Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis is seeking a Facilities Coordinator to support maintenance of the museum in partnership with the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The facilities coordinator serves as point of contact with UC Davis facilities staff to maintain building systems, custodial, and grounds operations; facilitates repairs and preventive maintenance; and serves as a key point of contact for emergency preparedness and after-hours response. If you are a proactive problem-solver with strong communication skills and knowledge of building systems, and you take pride in keeping spaces safe, functional, and responsive, we encourage you to apply.
Search Job ID: 85383
https://hr.ucdavis.edu/careers/apply?Category%5Bcategory_id%5D=&MCampus%5B0%5D=DV&format=json&keywords=

04/23/2026

Just a few days remain to see “Backstory: Digitizing the Museum Collection.” Treat yourself to this epic behind-the-scenes exhibition and experience works by more than 80 artists from UC Davis’ storied Fine Arts Collection, and watch artworks being researched, documented and photographed.

Discover some of the pioneering artists who founded the university’s art department, generations of students who followed, and iconic artists whose influence shaped art history including Ansel Adams, Robert Arneson, Joan Brown, Deborah Butterfield, Jay DeFeo, Roy De Forest, Richard Diebenkorn, Kota Ezawa, Mike Henderson, Stephen Kaltenbach, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Roland Petersen, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol and William T. Wiley.

“Backstory” closes May 2, but keep following us for information about expanded public access to collection, which launches in conjunction with the museum's 10th anniversary in fall 2026.

Image credits:
Digitization lab members input data about works from the Fine Arts Collection as others prepare to move hanging works to the photography area.

Photos by Hung Q. Pham Photography

04/19/2026

And that’s a wrap! Thanks to all who visited us on Picnic Day 112. We welcomed back William T. Wiley’s “Gong” sculpture with cowbells and fanfare, including Chancellor Gary May providing the first ceremonial ring. Students Trinh Vo, chair of Picnic Day 112; Savannah Anno and Lance Luangvala, Visitor Services Team students; and Haleigh Jones, museum Student Advisory Board member, also helped re-start this celebratory Aggie tradition.

This beloved work has returned to its museum home as a gift to students. “What we’re celebrating today is that thanks to the generosity of Maria Manetti Shrem, the Gong is back forever,” said Founding Director Rachel Teagle

Come by and “play” the “Gong” on your next visit.



Photos by Gregory Urquiaga / UC Davis

04/18/2026

A curated guide for arts, humanities and design enthusiasts.

Here in the College of Letters and Science, we love all that Picnic Day has to offer, but we love what our departments are doing best! So, if you, like us, don't want to miss what L&S Aggies are planning for April 18, we wanted to make it easier by providing this guide, featuring events from across....

04/17/2026

Make the Manetti Shrem Museum part of your UC Davis Give Day on April 17–18 and support a campus community where the arts are an indispensable part of everyday life for all! Make a gift of any size to provide essential support to our two featured funds. Visit http://bit.ly/3PQRtCl to give now!

Manetti Shrem Conservation Fund: Our art conservation fund protects and preserves treasured public artworks like William T. Wiley’s “Gong,” Robert Arneson’s Egghead Series and more! Did you know the Eggheads are part of the UC Davis Fine Arts Collection at the Manetti Shrem Museum?

Manetti Shrem Museum Partners Fund: Our annual fund enables us to present free exhibitions and programs year-round, ensuring the museum remains Free for All!

Image: UC Davis
A large white “Egghead” sculpture of an upside down head is cleaned and waxed by two people on either side, one standing and one kneeling, with green grass and campus building visible in the background.

04/09/2026

Ever since the opening of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in 2016, William T. Wiley’s Gong sculpture has been an interactive symbol of the joy art can inspire. Thousands of Aggies have used it to mark their celebratory moments.

Thanks to the generosity of the museum’s founding donor, Maria Manetti Shrem, Gong returns home to the museum as a gift to students — just in time for Picnic Day and ahead of the museum’s 10th anniversary next fall.

Join us on Picnic Day to honor Gong’s homecoming and Mrs. Shrem’s spirit of giving to UC Davis’ current and future generations of students. Give Gong a ring and make its journey home complete.

Image description:
Museum Founding Donors Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem with Advisory Board Member Mauro Aprile Zanetti.

04/09/2026

Looking forward to a night of great live music, student art, art making and much, much more tonight! 🎸🚒 🧡

Join us at the Manetti Shrem Museum for the Art Jam THIS FRIDAY! 🎨 Hear live music from in bloom and Mask Jestures 🎶 and have a great time crafting with good company 👫

📍Manetti Shrem Museum
📆⏰ Friday, April 9th from 6-8:30 PM

Flyer by cico✷ 🇸🇻 jester by nite 🎠



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Top right corner contains blue outline with text that reads “Art Jam @ manetti shrem museum.” In the center is an illustration of a red jar with text that reads “Art Jam,” and next to it is an illustration of a piece of toast with red jam and white text that reads “Masked Jestures” and “In Bloom.” Bottom left corner has text that reads “Manetti Shrem Museum” and bottom right has text that reads “4/9” “6-8:30 PM”

04/08/2026

🔊Ring in this year’s Picnic Day — literally — with the Manetti Shrem Museum. We’re welcoming back “Gong,” an interactive sculpture by artist William T. Wiley that heralded the museum’s groundbreaking in 2014 and resided on the museum’s east side from 2016 to 2022.

Stop by at 1 p.m. on Picnic Day for a special ceremonial sounding as Chancellor Gary May rings Gong for the first time. He’ll be joined by special student Gong sounders including Trinh Vo, chair of Picnic Day 112.

Join in the Aggie tradition of ringing the Gong and help make its journey home complete!

🧺 Throughout the day, cool off in our galleries, enjoy a self-guided gallery activity, and experience works by more than 80 artists from UC Davis’ storied Fine Arts Collection and experimental sculptures by Oakland-based artist Sahar Khoury in “Weights & Measures.”

🖼️ Meet museum staff who work in the Digitization Lab and learn about our efforts to preserve the collections and make them accessible.

We’re open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.

Special thanks to Founding Donor Maria Manetti Shrem whose generous support made Gong's homecoming possible.

Image descriptions:
"Gong" art piece sitting outside the museum.
Two people looking at art in one of the flat files in the gallery.
A family prepares to hit the Gong with the wooden striker.
People walking into the museum's main entrance on Picnic Day.

Photos by Hung Q. Pham Photography

04/06/2026

Unitrans is operating a free bus shuttle between the Silo Bus Terminal and the Manetti Shrem Museum every 20 minutes between 5:45 and 8:45 p.m. to get you from campus to Art Jam and back! The bus will pick up from the Causeway Connection bus stop at the Silo Bus Terminal and drop off at the bus zone directly west of the museum. (Find more information at this link: https://unitrans.ucdavis.edu/news/unitrans-bus-shuttle-artjam-manetti-shrem-museum)

On your way to and from the museum, you can check out the current installation in the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum, “Art For All: Representing your Co-moo-nity.” Coming soon is “Moo-vement for Improvement: A Showcase of California Native Plants and Sustainability at UC Davis.” Each installation is made up of 100% UC Davis student art!

Art Jam, April 9, 6–8:30 p.m., Manetti Shrem Museum.

Video description: Paper cut-out of a bus pulling away from the Silo and arriving at the Manetti Shrem Museum.

04/03/2026

Join the Manetti Shrem Museum on Tuesday, April 14, for an evening with Lisa G. Materson and Corrie Decker at Covered, a campus-wide collaboration celebrating recent books from faculty in the College of Letters and Science.

Lisa G. Materson, professor of history, discusses “Radical Solidarity: Ruth Reynolds, Political Allyship, and the Battle for Puerto Rico’s Independence,” which traces the civil rights activist’s’ deep involvement in the movement for Puerto Rico’s independence and offers a nuanced account of political allyship, anti-colonial struggle and cross-racial collaboration.

Corrie Decker, professor of gender, sexuality and women's studies and external chair of American Studies, discusses “The Age of S*x: Custom, Law, and Ritual in Twentieth-Century East Africa.” The book examines how colonial courts and ethnographers in East Africa transformed complex rites of passage into simplified “puberty rites,” reshaping legal understandings of childhood, adulthood, gender and sexual maturity.

The evening includes presentations, audience Q&A and light refreshments.

5:30–7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Open to the public and Free for All. Covered is presented by Manetti Shrem Museum and UC Davis Library. The Covered partnership is part of Elevate the Arts, a campus-wide initiative fostering collaboration among UC Davis faculty in the arts to support and amplify one another’s work.