Render Eggheads as Positive, UC Davis

Render Eggheads as Positive, UC Davis

At UC Davis you might be called an egghead and be proud of it. However. Wikipedia describes eggheads as: “U.S. English slang, egghead is an epithet used to refer to intellectuals or people considered out-of-touch with ordinary people and lacking in realism, common sense, sexual interests, etc. on account of their intellectual interests.

Large ceramic sculptures collectively known as eggheads can be found across the campus. These seven eggheads were among Robert Arneson’s last works in 1991. Arneson, a former art professor at UC Davis, is considered the father of the ceramic Funk movement.

Tour the eggheads

Two eggheads opposite on a grassy hillLike the name, the egghead pieces are many folded, funny, with a wink into sarcasm. There are five stops on the egghead tour around campus. We started at the Welcome Center (550 Alumni Ln) to pick up a campus map. If you follow the road north on Mrak Hall Drive you’ll meet the first two eggheads: See No Evil/Hear No Evil. Notice that both sculptures are missing ears! Egghead, the eye on Mrak looking at the administration building

Fatal Laff is an egghead on his head laughingIf you are touring on a day the administration building Mrak Hall is open you can cut through it to find the next stop: Eye on Mrak (Fatal Laff) The eye that ‘looks’ at Mrak reminds me of the Eye of Providence (also known as the all-seeing-eye). The other side is upside down and laughing. 

Yin and Yang Next, we turned east towards Lake Spafford and then north through the orange arches of Celeste Turner Wright Hall where you can see Yin & Yang. These two might look familiar. A replicate of them sits on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

BookheadIn front of the Shields library you’ll find my personal favorite: Bookhead. The head collapsed over a book, the nose right in the crease of it. I think this egghead needs sleep.

StargazerLastly, Stargazer can be found by going north, then turning right onto Shields Ave. At the next opportunity, turn left on East Quad. Take a right after South Hall. Once you are in the courtyard turn left. Stargazer is near the original entrance of UC Davis, a brick wall from 1908. 

Do you think eggheads are funny or have a deeper meaning?

 

Delight Yourself at a Fairy Garden in Woodland

Delight Yourself at a Fairy Garden in Woodland

A fairy taking a zip line rideRemember the fairy garden in Fairy Glen, San Jose? Someone told me about one in Woodland. In this garden the fairies and gnomes live together. They enjoy gardening (of course!), but they also have a zip line that you can help them use. A dish full of trinkets and a fountain in the backIf you have a wish you can take one of the trinkets, turn around, close your eyes and throw it over your shoulder into the pond. Adults will find a penny jar to use for their wishes. 

Japanese garden design elementsThe garden itself is a gem on its own. I believe the grown up inhabitant is a landscape architect. There are various elements of Japanese garden design, like bonsai trees, and buddha statues. Another interactive feature is the gong and children are encouraged to ring it.

A gong in the fairy gardenYou can find the fairy garden on the corner lot of Rancho Way and Westway Drive in Woodland. Please supervise your children when they interact with the fairies and gnomes. 

I hope your wishes will come true.

Do you know of other fairy garden in the Bay Area?

Margrit Mondavi Art Garden

Combine Flowers and Art, Margrit Mondavi Art Garden

Dan Snyder’s The Restoration of Hope IIAdjacent to the Manetti Shrem Art Museum on the UC Davis campus you will find the Margrit Mondavi Art Garden. A lovely tribute to a main donor to UC Davis, Margrit Mondavi on her 90th birthday in 2015,. A painter herself, Mondavi’s subjects were flowers. John Connell’s Earth-Touching Buddha with roses in frontAtlas Lab, who landscaped the garden in 100 days, took inspiration from Mondavi’s paintings and planted an array of diverse and colorful flower beds. Curvy small walls with curved benches invite the visitors to sit, to contemplate, or start to sketch. 

Andrew Rogers’ I amThe sculptures you will encounter at Margrit Mondavi’s Art Garden are William Tucker’s Leda (1989-90), bronze, John Connell’s Earth-Touching Buddha (2002), bronze, Dan Snyder’s The Restoration of Hope II (1983), ceramic with cement, and Andrew Rogers’ I am (2016). Above all, this is a flower garden that even has a rose cultivar named after the gardens namesake “Margrit Mondavi”.

A path of Margrit Mondavi's art gardenI found this an unexpected but joyful place worth discovering. Best said by Margrit Mondavi herself in the UC Davis Magazine in 2014, “There is so much beauty in the world, if we look for it.” 

What is your unexpected but beautiful place?

Culinary garden at the CIA at Copia, Napa

Savor the Culinary Garden at the CIA

Legend for the citrus trees of the culinary gardenNot only should you check out the ​​Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum when you are in Napa, you should also make a stop at the culinary garden. This gem of a cuisine garden is in front of the CIA at the Copia. While it features a variety of citrus trees on the right side, the main attraction is the 32-bed-garden. It is as educational as practical. Everything this edible garden has to offer is used by the CIA. In rare cases the website promises to offer any surplus at the Marketplace. Legend for the culinary garden at the CIAThe two gardeners Jacob Tracy and Rachel Kohn Obut show their love for the job and the sustainability of the land by ensuring crop rotation, no-till gardening, and an interesting array of local and climate related plants.  

Currently they are working on offering garden tours, summer produce and flower sales.Seed library at the CIA culinary garden, Napa

The little stone walls invite you to sit down and take in the beauty and smells. You could even bring lunch from the next door’s Oxbow public market. The only thing you are asked to not do is sample any produce. Nevertheless they do offer a seed library! Get inspired and start your own culinary garden.

I hope you will take some time to enjoy the culinary garden at the CIA.