Our Story

ABOUT THE JOHN NATSOULAS CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Fine Art, Books, Poetry, & Music

Established over three decades ago, the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts has earned numerous honors, supported emerging artists, and advanced fine art with its dynamic and forward-thinking concern.

Today, the Center continues in this direction, producing historical and high-profile exhibitions, publishing hundreds of artists’ catalogs and books, hosting educational conferences, and spearheading the country’s first Transmedia Art Walk in downtown Davis, with its fifty plus sculptures and murals by local artists.

Throughout its life, the Gallery has launched several major retrospectives of nationally and internationally-known museum artists, including Camille Claudel, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, Wayne Thiebaud, and David Gilhooly. Early on, the Gallery hosted major exhibits for many painters and sculptors of various periods. These exhibits were vital to movements involving West Coast artists of the ‘50s and ‘60s, the San Francisco artist-run Beat galleries, and the California figurative and ceramic art movements– all accompanied by well-documented catalogs and books. Home to the annual California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, the Center is an enduring center for fine art as well as poetry and music.

The John Natsoulas Center for the Arts has been voted the “Top Gallery in California”– one of the 250 out of 4,000 galleries chosen nationwide to be published in the Radiante Guide.