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Davis, California

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Campus art museum to open in 2016

After a 10 million dollar gift over the holidays from the Jan Shrem, a friend of Margrit Mondavi, UC Davis is now planning to add a new art museum near the Mondavi Center.

“The museum will be a resource for students, faculty, staff and members of the community to experience art in the broadest sense of the word. We imagine that students will have the chance to work directly with objects through classes and to visit the museum often to look at exhibitions of works of art, both from the UC Davis Fine Arts Collection and from other museums and private collections,” said Dean Jessie Ann Owens, division of humanities, arts and cultural studies, College of Letters and Science.

A consultant hired by the university, Lindsay Martin, of Lord Cultural Resources, has been speaking with faculty, staff and students about what they would like to see in an art museum.  A focus group was held on last Wednesday in the Student Community Center in order to get more student insight.

“I was surprised that we don’t already have a [major] art museum on campus,” said Kayla Rouse, a senior biological science major.

Options that are currently available for students include the Basement Gallery, Gorman Museum, Design Museum and the Nelson Gallery. These current galleries are all connected to campus departments.

Some students attended merely because they were interested in what the art museum was.

“I drove by the Mondavi Center and saw a sign for an art museum, then received an email. I was curious about what was going on,” said Carolina Pina, a junior human development major.

There is currently no preconception of what the museum at UC Davis should be like. According to Owens, the hope is that it will be a place that students visit often.

“We are still figuring it out. I am hired to help understand what types of spaces the University wants in their art museum,” Martin said.

The museum is projected to open in 2016.

DANIELLE HUDDLESTUN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

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