UC Merced Arts

01/17/2025

Something new is coming soon! We’re working hard to get ready for Actions for the Earth: Art, Care and Ecology, opening January 30th at La Galería.

Slide one: Lhola Amira: IRMANDADE: The Shape of Water in Pindorama, 2018-2020, HD video, single channel sound, film still. Image courtesy of SMAC Gallery, copyright Lhola Amira.

Slide two: Curatorial intern Kat Corti builds a planter for installation of Arahmaiani, Memory of Nature, 2013, Singapore (Courtesy of the artist). Help for the installation of this artwork is thanks to and Kat Corti.

Actions for the Earth is a traveling exhibition curated by Sharmila Wood and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI). Learn more

01/15/2025

✨ Calling all UC Merced students passionate about arts and culture! ✨

The Arte Américas Cultural Arts Fellowship (AACAF) is your chance to gain hands-on experience at the largest Latinx cultural arts center in the Central Valley! This paid, part-time fellowship runs from March to November 2025 and offers an incredible opportunity to work closely with experienced professionals in the field.

🎯 Who should apply?
If you're studying history, art, art history, anthropology, museum studies, American-Latino arts & culture, or Chicano/Chicana studies, this is for YOU!

💼 Eligibility:
You must be currently enrolled at UC Merced, CSU Fresno, or one of the participating community colleges listed.

📅 Application Deadline: Extended to January 24, 2025!

Don’t miss out on this career-boosting opportunity!
🔗 For more info and to apply, visit arteamericas.org.

01/09/2025

🎨✨ Big art, big moves! SWIPE to see the whole process✨🎨

This week, we moved three large-scale paintings of Yosemite Valley & Death Valley by Stanislaus J. Sowinski across the UC Merced campus. 🚚💪🏻 These vibrant pieces will soon find new homes on campus, and we can’t wait to see where they’ll land! Stay tuned for updates on their next destinations. 👀🏡

Sometimes arts work is glamorous, but most of the time, we’re rolling up our sleeves, getting our hands dirty, and doing lots of heavy lifting and moving! 💼🖼️💥 It’s all part of bringing more art and inspiration to UC Merced!

01/08/2025

UC Merced’s Global Arts Studies faculty Jayson Beaster-Jones ( )and Patricia Vergara ( ) are two of thirteen collaborators on a new UC Multicampus Research Program Initiative (MRPI) grant that has received nearly $2 million to use arts and culture to spur climate action.

Led by Karolina Karlic ( ) from UC Santa Cruz, the UC Climate Action Arts Network (CAAN) will leverage art and design as a powerful medium to engage the public in climate resilience and sustainability. CAAN aims to set a benchmark for public universities globally in addressing climate challenges.

“Our work highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration,” added Karlic. “With the inclusion of colleagues across the UC system, we are not just addressing climate change—we are engaging our local and global communities to take meaningful action through the arts.”

Read the full UC Press Release at ucm.edu/u8opbw

12/11/2024

The Arts at UC Merced connect, inspire, and transform lives. 🎭 Between now and December 31st, every dollar you give is matched 1:1 up to $1,000 — meaning your gift can create twice the opportunity for creativity to thrive.

We’re only $125 away from this goal! Let’s come together to champion imagination at UC Merced – all gifts of $25 or more also receive complimentary membership to Friends of UC Merced Arts through the 2024/25 Academic Year. You can support UC Merced Arts through the link below - give to the general fund to have your gift DOUBLED!✨

https://www.givecampus.com/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaMerced/give-to-uc-merced/pages/uc-merced-arts



📸: UC Merced students experiencing the Spring 2024 exhibition at La Galería, “Ruben A. Sanchez: Cosechando Sueños (Harvesting Dreams).” 🎨

12/10/2024

We’re thrilled to announce the next artist in the 2024/25 UpstART concert series - !! The performance will be on Saturday, February 1 at 3pm at The Art Kamangar Center at The Merced Theatre. Tickets are $15 General Admission and FREE for all college students (with ID) and children!

Okorie “OkCello” Johnson is an Atlanta-based cellist-composer, looper, improviser, and storyteller. His work centers on themes and expressions of the African Diaspora, while also exploring the phenomenon of musical prayer. Drawing upon his experience as a teacher and writer, Ok Cello immerses his audiences in vivid stories and songs, creating a richly layered, transcendent cello experience.

A huge thank you to our UpstART Season & Concert Sponsors!

The 2024/25 UpstART Season is co-sponsored by UC Merced’s Division of Equity, Justice, and Inclusive Excellence (EJIE)
The OkCello concert is co-sponsored by a Friend of UC Merced Arts

12/09/2024

As we wish a fond farewell to our Fall '24 exhibition, we're preparing for La Galería's upcoming Spring '25 exhibition – "Actions for the Earth: Art, Care & Ecology," an exhibition curated by Sharmila Wood and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI) on view from January 30 – April 19, 2025 (Opening Reception: January 30, 4 – 6 PM).

Actions for the Earth is a traveling exhibition that considers how artistic practices use kinship, healing, and restorative intervention to foster a deeper consciousness of our interconnectedness with the earth.

Actions for the Earth presents the work of eighteen intergenerational artists and collectives who place action, instruction, reciprocity, and exchange at the forefront of their practices. By sharing their participatory artistic interventions and healing strategies alongside research in ecology, science, and ancient beliefs, these artists remind us that we are connected within a constellation of living networks, inseparable from the planet and its environments.

Artists & Artworks in this post:
1. Lhola Amira, IRMANDADE: The Shape of Water in Pindorama, 2018-2020, HD video, single channel sound, film still. Image courtesy of SMAC Gallery, copyright Lhola Amira. .amira
2. Arahmaiani, Memory of Nature, 2013, Singapore. Courtesy the artist.
3. Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser), As Grand As What, 2021, 3 channel performance video; color, stereo sound, video still from As Grand As What (2021). Image courtesy of the artist.
4. Tabita Rezaire, Premium Connect, 2017, video with LED glow, still from Premium Connect (2017). Courtesy of the artist and Goodman Gallery, South Africa.
5. Cecilia Vicuña, Semiya (Seed Song), 2015, color, sound, HD video, 07:43, Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
6. Zheng Bo, Ecosensibility Exercises, installation view, 2021, Gropius Bay, Berlin. Photo: Eike Walkenhorst. Courtesy the artist; Gropius Bau; Edouard Malingue Gallery.

Learn more

12/04/2024

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we unfortunately must cancel tonight’s “Late Night” event. Thank you to all who came out to this Fall’s Late Nights, and we look forward to hosting more in the Spring!!

Alma, Corazón y Vida: Latinx Art Legends from the Mike “Surito” Echeverría Collection is on view at La Galería and through December 6.

12/03/2024

It’s our LAST week with the incredible Alma, Corazón y Vida exhibition at La Galería and 📍
Don’t miss out on your last chance to spend time with this incredible artwork from Chicanx Art legends!

La Galería will be open today through Friday, December 6th from 10am to 6pm at El Portal 120.

Slide one: Gronk, A Jetter
Gronk, Backdrop for Los Faustinos

Slide two: Exhibition photo featuring Jose Orozco’s Kinesthetic Toys and artworks from Los Four

Slide three: Gronk, Set Piece for Ainadamar

12/03/2024

Come out for Auditions for Shakespeare in Yosemite's As Yosemite Likes It this Friday!!

Auditions this Friday at 5:00 for Shakespeare in Yosemite's As Yosemite Likes It. DM us or email Katie Brokaw [email protected] for details. Performance dates: April 24-27.

12/02/2024

Join us this Wednesday, December 4th for our last Late Night at the Gallery of the Fall Semester!
We will be revisiting some of the art workshops from our previous late nights for those of you who couldn’t make it or want to try something new.
See you then!

11/26/2024

UC Merced Arts has received a $15,000 grant from the California State Library’s Groundwork Grants Program!

🌦️ With California’s rainy season upon us, it’s important to make sure artworks and collections are properly stored and plans are in place for any kind of weather emergency or disaster. We’re thrilled to announce that and La Galería were selected as recipients of the California State Library’s Groundwork Grant! This grant funds important disaster-planning supplies, environmental monitoring sensors for our exhibition and storage spaces, training and consultations for gallery staff, and more! We are so grateful to the Groundwork Grants Program and the California State Library for this honor and opportunity.

The Groundwork Grants program is administered by the California State Library in partnership with Myriad Consulting and Training and is part of the library’s “Ready or Not: California Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project,” funded by the State of California.

11/25/2024

La Galería will be closed November 24th through December 2nd.
Visit us when we re-open for our last week of Alma Corazón y Vida, December 3rd through 6th!

11/15/2024

Are you ready for our next Late Night at La Galería? 🌙

Next Wednesday, November 20th, join us in El Portal 120 for a screening of ‘Margaret Garcia: Against All Odds’.

Afterwards, we will be making artworks inspired by Hojalata: the tin art made in Mexico that creates both practical and ornate objects. Mexican artisans and craftsmen draw on their imagination to mold inexpensive, readily available tin into elegant, delicate works of art. We can’t wait to make our own!

Alma, Corazón y Vida is open until December 6th at La Galería and (excluding 11/26—11/30)
See you soon!

11/12/2024

Artist, Muralist, Printmaker, Performer... Gronk does it all!

With the final month of the Alma Corazón y Vida exhibition, UC Merced Arts wants to highlight some of the artists featured in this collection.

This week we are looking at the artist Gronk! Glugio Nicandro, more famously known as Gronk, is an artist from Downtown Los Angeles known for his Chicano performance art, expressionistic paintings, large-scale murals, and prints.

Gronk is also well-known for his set designs, which are an extension of his overall body of work and reference his dedication to researching films, literature, philosophy, politics, and urban life into visual language.

Visit La Galeria, and
to see some of his work in person.
La Galería is open from 10am to 6pm Tuesdays through Saturdays. Plan your visit today!