Art students will soon be able to make use of a unique donation to the department – a time capsule of 21st century pop culture. On Friday the Nelson Gallery, the art department’s faculty-run teaching museum, opened a donation of original photographs from the Andy Warhol Foundation valued at $188,000. The package was opened Friday in the small space of room 125 in the art building, with an anxious audience huddled around. About a year ago, the Nelson Gallery Registrar and Collection manager Robin Bernhard explained, Nelson Gallery director Renny Pritikin received a peculiar letter in the mail from the foundation asking if UC Davis would like a portion of the $28 million donation of the American pop artist’s work that would be distributed to around 200 universities for academic use. Pritikin filled out a form and returned it to the foundation, and on Apr. 8 received a sealed package, which remained unopened until Friday so that it could acclimate to its new western atmosphere.

The UC Davis women’s water polo team finished off conference play in true Aggie fashion. Eight different UC Davis players scored and Santa Clara was held scoreless for 29 minutes in an 8-3 victory at the Schaal Aquatics Center. The contest was the last conference test for UC Davis before it travels to Loyola Marymount to compete as the likely top seed at the Western Water Polo Association Championships. “I’m glad for the one-seed because it’s a reflection that we’ve been playing well, and that’s a good thing,” said head coach Jamie Wright. “You want to play well going into conference.”

Men’s and women’s track & field After breaking three school records at the Stanford Invitational the week before, UC Davis set yet another at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at UCLA this past weekend. Junior Sirena Williams recorded a 14.06 in the 100-meter hurdle to establish a new Aggie record. The Fresno, Calif. native finished second in the event. On the men’s side, freshman Ray Green qualified for the NCAA Division I West Region Track and Field Championships next month with a 15.04-meter performance in the triple jump Saturday in Los Angeles.