Conferences & Events

The 6th Annual Davis Jazz Festival: Beyond the Beat Generation

Saturday October  19 & 20, 2012

The Davis Jazz Festival offers a wealth of sparkling musical gems and a selection of exciting performance painters for families and fans of all ages. Whether you’re looking for the haunting tones of a jazz chanteuse, the sounds of cutting edge, or hard-driving big bands, or classical jazz combos-or just a great cultural experience, the Davis Jazz Festival will deliver it all. Mounted as a collaborative event providing interaction between musicians and visual artists, the festival will serve as an educational event for creative youth and will benefit the Davis High School Band Program.

The Beat Generation and Beyond Conference celebrates the spirit of collaboration and creativity that flourished in California during the 1950s and early 1960s. Once a year, musicians and filmmakers, scholars and historians, painters and poets converge in Davis for this premier creative arts conference hosted by the John Natsoulas Gallery. In October 2012, artists of all genres and generations will meet again to exchange ideas and share their talents through presentations and performance. Part education, part exhibition, the conference seeks to recreate the stimulating and exhilarating atmosphere of a culturally and historically significant era.

The Art of Painting in the 21st Century -An Annual Conference at Davis

Philagrafika 2010

Friday March 9 & 10, 2012

A weekend of painting and fun! Featuring well-known artists such as Enrique Chagoya and Guy Diehl who will be participating in discussions, lectures, exhibitions, demonstrations and breakout groups. Over 10 exhibitions by California universities and colleges, all within a five-block radius of the John Natsoulas Gallery. There will be an all day conference Friday, March 9, 2012, followed by an opening night reception and party followed by another day of conferences on Saturday, March 10, 2012. Interact with the field’s top artists in an intimate setting not provided by larger venues. Davis, CA, has been home to such seminal painters as Roy De Forest, Wayne Thiebaud, William T. Wiley and Manuel Neri, a group that was instrumental in defining a unique new direction in California painting. Meet face to face with distinguished painters you might only read about, and speak directly with the artists about what makes them the top in their field. We are providing free space for all interested schools. Contact art@natsoulas.com for more information.

California Conference for the Advancement for Ceramic Arts

Friday April 27th –  Sunday April 29th, 2012

CCACA 2011 brings the ultimate ceramic sculpture event to Davis, California. UC Davis, home to the late sculptor Robert Arneson, was instrumental in defining a new direction for ceramic art. In an intimate setting, you can interact with top artists in a way not possible at other venues. Enjoy delightful downtown Davis and be inspired by nationally recognized ceramic art talents. Demonstrations, lectures, and over 40 student exhibitions, no other event delivers more inspired knowledge of ceramic sculpture for a better price.

Great California “Paint Out” Call to Artists, 2012

Saturday September 22nd, 2012

Those who have never been to the Sacramento Valley may feel that its painters tend to romanticize the light. The light has become an identifiable part of Sacramento Valley art; Luxuriously rich, palpably colored, and yet possessing a remarkable clarity; it should be experienced to be understood-and here is your chance. The insistence upon light-as-subject is the unifying motif behind the Sacramento Valley School of Landscape Painting; the ways in which it plays across familiar forms, and the ways in which it can become symbolic of other levels of experience. The richness and variety of resources from which they create make the conference the perfect opportunity to observe these plein aire artists at work in their environment.


Western Biennale of Art : Spring/Summer 2013

Public opportunities to experience avant-garde, worldwide trends in the arts are often limited to arenas such as the Venice Biennale, Art Basel or Art Forum Berlin. The John Natsoulas Center for the Arts brings this experience to the West Coast with the Gallery’s second Western Biennale of Art exhibition, taking place in Spring/Summer 2013.