University Library
Welcome to the online guide to “Songs of Our Own: The Art of the Grateful Dead Phenomenon,” a previous exhibit in Dead Central at UC Santa Cruz (April 2013-April 2014) exploring art that documented, celebrated, and inspired the Grateful Dead and their fans.
Materials included in the exhibit, drawn from the Grateful Dead's archive held in Special Collections & Archives, included art from Jerry Garcia’s student days at the California School of Fine Arts, the poster renaissance of the Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, from the increasingly sophisticated art created by Deadheads in the 1970s, and work made by band members themselves in the 1990s.
“I’ve come to realize that the art movement that accompanied the rise of the Dead is as much a part of what we became in the public eye as the songs and our playing of them.”
Robert Hunter, Lyricist, 2003
This guide provides a brief outline of the exhibit with a checklist of works exhibited, credits, and a list of sources for further reading.
Exhibit poster created by Gary Houston (copyright UCSC Special Collections)
The land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
The land acknowledgement used at UC Santa Cruz was developed in partnership with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Chairman and the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program at the UCSC Arboretum.
Santa Cruz, CA