新澳门六合彩内幕信息

This In Focus story is a part of the Driven by Curiosity series.

memories of TB9 are displayed on a wall

A Sojourner鈥檚 Path: From a Temporary Building to the World and Back

TB 9 is just a building, but it has nurtured artists at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis and birthed an art movement

When world-renowned artist and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Professor Emeritus Wayne Thiebaud added a few more of his paintings to the university collection in 2016, the building that would be the university鈥檚 first art museum 鈥 the  鈥 was still under construction.

Amid the rumble of heavy equipment and pounding hammers on a 106-degree day, he said he never really thought he would witness a museum being built where he started teaching in the 1960s. Nor did he think his work, which is exhibited around the world, would be displayed there.

鈥淣o, I had imagined we鈥檇 get a Quonset hut way back in the sticks that no one would ever see.鈥 Instead, the museum is located at a prime gateway to campus, he noted. 鈥淚鈥檓 very touched.鈥

A 鈥淨uonset hut鈥 is where art at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis more or less began, though. And art is still made there every day.

Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on opening day
Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on opening day 2016. (Karin Higgins/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)
Wayne Thiebaud at Manetti Shrem
Artist Wayne Thiebaud at the construction site of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in 2016. (新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis/Gregory Urquiaga)

 

Many in the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis art community view Temporary Building 9, or TB 9, a metal structure at Old Davis Road and Hutchison Drive constructed from old military surplus materials, as the main creative space on campus since the 1960s, when the art department grew there. The building, which has served as a police station, post office and food sciences area, is where Thiebaud and many of his lifelong friends and colleagues 鈥 the first-generation art faculty at the university鈥檚 first art department 鈥 created a place to work.

 

There, the group assembled as a 鈥渢eam of rivals鈥 by founding art department chair Richard Nelson, including Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, William Wiley, Roland Petersen, Roy De Forest, Tio Giambruni and Manuel Neri, among others, freely made art in a 24-hour environment away from the distractions of the main campus and the rest of the world. Former students and faculty alike, many of them now internationally known artists, reminisce about the magical space that gave birth to the first-generation faculty and later-famous artists. They also reminisce about the heat 鈥 when summer days, along with the kilns and fiery foundry are rumored to have brought the temperatures to 120 degrees.

A modest building of national significance

Air conditioning, and heat, only came to the two main teaching studios in 2003, and to the individual studios in 2018-19. The same year that the Manetti Shrem Museum opened, in 2016, the building gained recognition for its importance in art history with its inclusion on the  and the California Register of Historical Resources.

It has always been known as a place where artists can freely create.

Arneson, creator of the 鈥Eggheads,鈥 and other 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis first-generation art faculty are among those associated with the California Funk and the Figurative movements of the mid-century. Arneson, often dubbed the father of the ceramic Funk movement, is most associated with TB 9, which housed the university鈥檚 ceramics facilities as well as other studios. He taught at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis from 1962 until the year before his death in 1992. In the 1960s, when the art department began, two-thirds of the building held the art space and foundry, while food science and the post office occupied the rest of the building, according to artists who worked there. The artists eventually took over the whole place. The metal shell, with an outer garden and patio full of sculptures, looks much the same today.

Birthplace of an art movement

One of the last students to work under Arneson before his death was prot茅g茅 Kathy Butterly, a nationally known artist whose own first retrospective exhibition will be shown at the Manetti Shrem Museum this summer. It accompanies that features, among others, art from the museum collection by Arneson, Thiebaud and Wiley.

The Kathy Butterly/ColorForm exhibition travels through Butterly鈥檚 entire career with dozens of her sculptures and drawings, with an emphasis on the past 10 years. It is a homecoming of sorts, bringing Butterly back to the site of her MFA and to the Northern California region that has been so generative for ceramic art for a half-century.

Robert Arneson, a member of the art faculty over four decades, in front of TB 9, 1991. (Copyright Estate of Robert Arneson/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society, New York, New York)
Robert Arneson, a member of the art faculty over four decades, in front of TB 9, 1991. (Copyright Estate of Robert Arneson/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society, New York, New York)

 

鈥淭his was really the birthplace of a movement of art,鈥 said Butterly, who now operates out of a living-working studio in New York. 鈥淎nd I was so excited to be here to study,鈥 adding that all her student colleagues felt 鈥渢hese were the best two years of our lives.鈥

In Arneson, she found a kindred spirit. Arneson, who used TB 9 as his primary studio, which he once said was key to his effectiveness as a teacher, would go to great lengths to help his students. He often spent hours with them, in the studio, and over wine, beer and food 颅颅tried to help them be better artists by feeding their souls and their stomachs.

鈥淎ll we talked about was art, day and night, and we worked all the time, 24 hours a day,鈥 remembered Butterly. 鈥淵ou wanted to be in his presence. He was so smart and so gifted.鈥

鈥淎ll we talked about was art, day and night, and we worked all the time, 24 hours a day.鈥 鈥擪athy Butterly 

Arneson鈥檚 sons recall the same freely creative environment, whether it was throwing clay balls at each other in the studio, being able to put their handprints in his work (permanently) or explaining to their friends the presence of their father鈥檚 sculptured  in their living room at their house in Davis. The toilets represent Arneson鈥檚 one-up on the original infamous art toilet, , by Marcel Duchamp.

They remember a Dodge van 颅鈥 often used to transport art and clay 鈥 parked in their driveway. Its vanity license plate read: 鈥淭B 9.鈥 His students often came over to barbecues, and even babysat the four boys, explained Kirk Arneson, the youngest of the sons and one of five of Arneson鈥檚 children, who now lives in Benicia.

Kreg Arneson, the second-oldest son, remembers a story where his father once destroyed a now-prominent alumna artist鈥檚 work.

鈥淗e wanted her to do better. He knew she could do better; he wasn鈥檛 trying to be mean,鈥 said Kreg, who strongly resembles the photos and self-portrait sculptures of his father. 鈥淎nd, she is the best artist to ever come out of here.鈥

Butterly recalls that Arneson鈥檚 influence was great, and she only now realizes she has adopted some of his habits, right down to listening to public radio when she makes art. This lends itself, she said, to some of the political art she creates, including a piece that will be in the summer exhibition called 鈥淣ovember 9th,鈥 which refers to the election of President Donald Trump. 鈥淚t had been brightly colored. Then, after the election, I covered the piece in black,鈥 while leaving, she added, pink arms and a pearl necklace still visible.

On a recent visit to TB 9, she said she felt the same presence of both greatness and raw creativity that she felt as a grad student in the 90s. 鈥淲e worked with these great artists. We never, never, took that privilege for granted.鈥

Art Professor Annabeth Rosen shows visitor art
Annabeth Rosen, who is the Robert Arneson Professor of Art and Art History, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, shows a visitor the 鈥済allery鈥 of photos that line the walls of TB 9. The photos depict students and visitors through the years. (Tim McConville/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

Free-wheeling 鈥60s

Arthur Schade, a Bay Area artist whose sculptures have been displayed at the Manetti Shrem Museum (鈥1990 Twin Falls鈥 sits at the museum鈥檚 main entrance) was in the first group of people to earn an MFA in 1969. 鈥淚t was a fun and free-wheeling place,鈥 he remembered, where he and others sometimes stayed all day and night working on projects. 鈥淚t was a dirty, messy place. It was great.鈥

The faculty were not much older than the students, and they all had a special camaraderie, added Sandy Shannonhouse, the widow of Arneson who is now married to Schade.

Schade remembers working one summer day in 118-degree heat helping the late professor Tio Giambruni at the foundry. 鈥淚t was so hot. I lost seven pounds in one day,鈥 he said.

Shannonhouse, a sculptor who studied art at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis as an undergraduate and has two of her works on display in the museum鈥檚 courtyard, said there has been a long-held joke about the heat and lack of air circulation in the metal-encased building, considered by some a 鈥渉othouse of creativity.鈥 The kiln room still emits a lot of heat, but the remaining rooms are comfortable even on a warm Davis day.

鈥淚 think that someone finally figured out that the chickens on campus had air conditioning, but not the art building,鈥 she quipped.

A place from the past, for the present

Today, not all students know the history of the place. But they can feel it.

When one walks into TB 9, a message on a chalkboard reads: 鈥淲elcome to TB 9. Happy Creating.鈥

chalkboard with welcome students written on it
A chalkboard welcomes students to TB 9 (Karin Higgins/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

鈥淲e have the freedom to create here,鈥 said Julia Pierce, 20, in her third year as a student. A design major and studio art minor, Pierce recently took her third class at TB 9 in the spring quarter, creating a 5-foot tall clay sculpture for a class assignment. The sculpture area is down the way from a long hallway at the building鈥檚 entrance containing floor-to-ceiling, tightly packed, framed photos of hundreds of students and faculty from previous years. The gallery starts to the left of the entrance, with a single photo of Arneson and one of his many, now-famous sculptures of his own head.  

Professor , a nationally known and accomplished ceramic sculptor, carries on much of the tradition there, taking photos of student artists, alumni and visitors to display on the walls in a makeshift gallery of memories. She teaches and creates much of her work in a studio at TB 9, just as Arneson did, immersing herself in the work with the students some days, paint and clay spotted about on her skin, hair and clothes.

Officially, she has held the Department of Art and Art History鈥檚 Robert Arneson Endowed Chair since 1997. Unofficially, if TB 9 were a city, she would be the mayor, and she mentors its citizens. She has put together a TB 9 鈥渕anual鈥 with hundreds of pages of recipes and procedures for making color and blending clay to get the desired results. The clay the students use is in the inexpensive, raw form coming from Lincoln, California. Students must mix, pound and form the clay they need for creating.

鈥淭his way, all students, regardless of income or means, have access to the material,鈥 explained Rosen. 鈥淭hey can work to the limits of their imaginations, and then beyond that.鈥

This is how it鈥檚 always been at TB 9.

student ceramic works at TB 9
Student works of ceramic art fill TB 9. (新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)
student Jacqueline Arroyo sculpting art
Jacqueline Arroyo, a microbiology major with minors in art studio and Chicana/o Studies, works on her sculpture, creating puzzle pieces that will not connect. (Karin Higgins/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

On a recent day, 22 students in the intermediate ceramics class taught by lecturer and alumna   had only a few days to complete and load their projects into kilns for firing. Some were further along than others. While some students were throwing clay on tables for their sculptures, others were mixing pigments. Still more students, in a side room, were tossing hunks of a 3,000-pound clay mountain into a mixing machine. The 鈥渞ecipes鈥 required for making the clay were taped on the adjacent door by Rosen. The machines they use to mix look much like cement mixers.

In the studio, the students鈥 art took many forms. Jacqueline Arroyo, 21, is a microbiology major who ended up minoring in art studio. On a recent day, she was creating three-dimensional puzzles, about 18-inches square. 鈥淚 had never been exposed to art, but this was a welcoming place,鈥 she said, adding that she would be spending many hours in the next few days in TB 9 finishing her pieces. Apparently taken with the whimsey of the place, she specifically designed the puzzle pieces so that they never would fit together.

鈥淲e welcome everyone. 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis is a place of very smart, creative, accomplished, very good students. I always say, if you are a good student, you are a good art student.鈥 鈥擜nnabeth Rosen

Rosen said it鈥檚 not unusual for students from various majors to end up at TB 9. They might take one class, or three, or even progress to a minor or a major.

鈥淲e welcome everyone,鈥 she stressed. 鈥溞掳拿帕喜誓谀恍畔 Davis is a place of very smart, creative, accomplished, very good students. I always say, if you are a good student, you are a good art student.鈥

Rosen herself came to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis from the east coast to experience California鈥檚 rich ceramics history. She arrived here after Arneson had died. Previously, she knew of him, but met him only once. 鈥淟ittle did I know 鈥 I鈥檇 be here.鈥

She said she feels fortunate to be at Davis.

鈥淚f you do contemporary ceramics, you come to California,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t all began here.鈥

Jessica Wimbley, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis grad and director of Manetti Shrem Museum Education
Jessica Wimbley, a 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis MFA graduate and director of museum education for the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. (Gregory Urquiaga/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)
visitors making art in Manetti Shrem
Visitors work on their own art projects as the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art hosts free participatory art activities in the Carol and Gerry Park Art Studio. 

 

From student to artist to educator

Jessica Wimbley, who earned her MFA in 2005, now works as director of museum education at the Manetti Shrem Museum, the second alumna artist to hold that post. She pursued her graduate education here specifically because of the history of the art scene at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis.

鈥淚 fell in love with the campus,鈥 said Wimbley, who had spent her undergrad years at Rhode Island School of Design as a painting major where everything, she explained, 鈥渨as a little more serious.

鈥淚 loved Arneson鈥檚 Eggheads 鈥 the whimsey and humor of the whole place; the West Coast playfulness. I loved the tone of something fresh in the air. It really resonated with me.鈥

She felt lucky to have the opportunity to work in TB 9 as a graduate student.

 now works in photography and multimedia, as well, and was honored to have one of her works displayed at the museum in an exhibition, Dimensions of Black 鈥 which showed 30 works by some of the most celebrated African American artists of the past three decades.

She also facilitates creation in the museum鈥檚 own space, The Carol and Gerry Parker Art Studio. It is a space where on specific days and times the public, faculty, non-art major students, community members and whole families can experience an open art studio to create. It鈥檚 the only space of its kind in a university museum, a glassed-in studio viewable from the museum鈥檚 main lobby and accessible from the outer doors.

鈥淚 loved Arneson鈥檚 Eggheads 鈥 the whimsey and humor of the whole place; the West Coast playfulness.鈥 鈥擩essica Wimbley

A journey back to where it started

Wimbley thinks the accessibility and freedom to create has carried through from the days Shannonhouse, Schade and Butterly describe.

鈥淲orking here, now, at the Manetti Shrem Museum and experiencing TB 9 when I was a student, I get to be part of history,鈥 she said.

Rosen sees the experiences students have every day. 鈥淭B 9 is an example of the power of place to inspire. The space in TB 9 is inherently, in the very nature of its openness, its equipment and staff support 鈥 is unparalleled 鈥 no one ever forgets their time spent working here. It is a reminder of the importance space and light is to creative work, in all disciplines.鈥

鈥淔or artists it is an environment with the sense that anything can happen, it is an experience that stays for a lifetime.鈥

Butterly, who is pictured among the hundreds on the wall of TB 9 while pregnant with her first child, said TB 9 and her 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis experience represent a very important part of her life 鈥 both then and now.

Exhibiting her work at the museum feels special to her. Her art work has been shown in museums and galleries all over the world, but this 鈥渋s like the family calling me back home.鈥

鈥淭his is a total 360,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 giving back to a place that gave me so much.鈥

Egghead sculptures
鈥淵in & Yang鈥 are among the various Egghead sculptures that dot the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis campus. All were created by Robert Arneson. (新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

Media contact: Karen Nikos-Rose, News and Media Relations, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, 530-219-5472, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu

 

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