A weekly guide to what’s happening
Green Fix
World Oceans Day
June 8 is World Oceans Day—a time to recognize the dire impact of climate change on our seas. Created in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, World Oceans Day is the perfect time to learn how to protect the 71% of our planet that’s blue. In celebration, the Seymour Center is co-hosting a craft event and “Better Bag Challenge” to decorate a reusable tote bag, make an ocean promise, and create a special ocean-themed keepsake.
INFO: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 8. Seymour Marine Discovery Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz. seymourcenter.ucsc.edu. $9.
Art Seen
Leslie Morgan: ‘Pacific Coast Highway’
Bay Area artist Leslie Morgan has spent the majority of her life as a competitive swimmer and psychologist, and in her free time she travelled the ocean on a boat she called home. It’s not surprising, then, that Morgan is particularly influenced by water, and integrates elements of the ocean, environment and conservation in her work.
INFO: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, June 7. Felix Kulpa Gallery, 107 Elm St., Santa Cruz. felixkulpa.com. Free.
Saturday 6/8
33rd-Annual Japanese Cultural Fair
Since its founding in 1986, the Japanese Cultural Fair has provided an opportunity for members of the Santa Cruz County community to increase their awareness and understanding of Japanese culture, both traditional and contemporary. Through the arts, crafts and culture of Japan, this annual event has brought together thousands of people with martial arts demonstrations, drumming, authentic cuisine and more.
INFO: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mission Plaza Park, 103 Emmet St., Santa Cruz. jcfsantacruz.org. Free.
Saturday 6/7 and Sunday 6/8
45th-Annual Student Print Sale
At the UCSC Student Print Sale, print media students get to sell their original artwork, and the community gets to support budding artists while collecting beautiful one-of-a-kind art. Hundreds of original etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, digital prints, handmade books, and more will be on display and available for purchase. This is a unique opportunity to see and purchase high-quality handmade artwork, meet the artists and tour the UCSC arts facilities. The event is free and open to the public. All profits directly benefit the student artists and UCSC printmaking program.
INFO: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. UCSC Elena Baskin Visual Arts Printmaking Studio room G-101, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz. 459-3686. artsites.ucsc.edu/printsale. Free.
Thursday 6/6
Dark Matter
About 80% of all matter is a mysterious, invisible substance we call dark matter. Dark matter is hard to study directly, but new tools in astronomy and astrophysics have created fresh opportunities to work out its properties. Join UCSC Graduate Researcher Ben Lehmann in a discussion about how gravitational waves give us a new way of looking at the universe. Lehmann will explain what we know about dark matter and black holes, what we don’t know about them, and how these two mysterious components of our universe can shed some light on one another.
INFO: 6:30-8 p.m. Downtown Library, 224 Church St., Santa Cruz. Free.
Friday 6/7
D.S. Marriott and Juliana Spahr Poetry Readings
UCSC History of Consciousness faculty member D.S. Marriott is a renowned poet and internationally recognized writer. In his critical and creative work, Marriott—who is of Jamaican heritage—draws on post-colonial thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, and is the leading theorist of Afro-pessimism. Marriott will be leaving Santa Cruz in the fall, so this may be the only time to see him read before then. Oakland-based Juliana Spahr is a poet, editor and literary scholar. Her most recent book That Winter The Wolf Came concerns global struggles at the intersection of ecological and economic catastrophe. In addition to her volumes of criticism, Spahr has published eight books of poetry, and is currently an associate professor of English at Mills College.
INFO: 8 p.m. Felix Kulpa Gallery, 107 Elm St., Santa Cruz. 334-2257. felixkulpa.com. Free.
