Read the full article by Casey Rafter at Sacramento News & Review
Decades of experience guided the dancer’s movements as she silently shifted her arms, her hips and back, her legs — all in a fluid, slow dance, showing the ease with which she accomplished her stretches and the shifts in her body, even in her advanced age. Her eyes closed, the next scene revealed every sign of Meg Harper’s 80 years on the surface of her skin, magnified in even finer detail in the close up shot.
Harper is the center focus of South Korean/LA artist Kang Seung Lee’s film “Skin,” part of “Entangled Writing,” one of three temporary exhibits open at the UC Davis Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.
The death of Jan Shrem, co-founder of the museum, in September at 94, aligns with another exhibition at Manetti Shrem: “Light into Density: Abstract Encounters 1920s–1960s.” In the wake of Shrem’s death, visitors to the free museum have an opportunity to reflect on pieces taken directly from Shrem’s private collection.
Shrem, a philanthropist and visionary alongside his wife, Maria Manetti Shrem, was instrumental in creating a museum at UC Davis that not only celebrates art, but fosters community, education and cultural exchange. Since its opening in 2016, the museum has become a center for artistic exploration, reflecting Shrem’s mission to empower artists to connect and transform.