Merced center gets all dressed up with costume art

Costume design art from a UC Merced professor, who is also an Emmy Award winner, is the focus of the latest exhibit at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center.

The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at the center, 645 W. Main St.

Dunya Ramicova is a professor at UC Merced who has designed costumes for more than 150 productions, including theater, opera, ballet, dance, film and television in the United States and Europe, according to her biography.

She earned an Emmy for costume design work she did on “Nixon in China,” which was broadcast on PBS’ “Great Performances.”

Ramicova retired from the costume design industry, and has announced her intention to retire from teaching next year after 35 years, including stints at the Yale School of Drama, Harvard University and University of California campuses in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

She has collaborated many times with theater director Peter Sellars, who’s know for putting classic plays and operas in contemporary settings.

In 1968, Ramicova’s family came to the U.S. as political refugees from the former Czechoslovakia, according to a news release.

More than 2,000 of her images are being scanned and processed into digital versions at the UC Merced Library, according to a news release. That process has taken more than a year.

The costume drawings will eventually be housed at UC Merced.

The reception is Friday, and the exhibit will also be open during Merced Art Hop, which is 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday along Main Street in Merced.

Accompanying her work in the center during Art Hop is a DVD of “The Marriage of Figaro,” which features Ramicova’s designs.

The center’s exhibit is expected to run through Dec. 7.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Merced center gets all dressed up with costume art."