UC Merced Celebrates Permanent Acquisition of ‘Four Seasons of Yosemite’ Murals

"These works are a tribute to nature, to culture, and to time itself."

That's how UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz described "Four Seasons of Yosemite" during a reception at the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library, where campus leaders and community members, donors and the artist himself gathered to celebrate the university's milestone acquisition of the four monumental stained-glass murals.

A fixture of the library's third-floor study space since 2016, the murals were created by artist William Poulson. They are now a permanent part of the university's art collection, marking the largest art acquisition in UC Merced's history.

"What a wonderful thing, to be able to celebrate the significant occasion of the permanent acquisition of the 'Four Seasons of Yosemite' with you today," said Sarah Forzetting, who became UC Merced's university librarian July 1. One of the first things she learned on the job, she said, was that the deal had just closed. "How lucky am I?"

A Decades-Long Vision

Poulson first conceived "Four Seasons of Yosemite" in 1986, shortly after closing a stained-glass studio in Maui. That September, he arrived in Yosemite National Park and spent weeks sketching its valley. The drawings would become the finished designs for each mural.

The fall mural, "Tissiack," the Ahwahneechee name for Half Dome, was the first he completed, in 1988. It premiered at the park's Ahwahnee Hotel in 1989 and was featured at the Yosemite Visitor Center the following year.

Twenty years later, in 2008, Poulson finished "The Chief," representing winter. The monochromatic mural centers on a full moon over snow-covered terrain, with Cathedral Spires rising on one side of the valley and El Capitan on the other, while a bobcat looks down on a pair of snowshoe hares.

The spring mural, "Cascade Creek," followed in 2019, featuring vivid dogwood blossoms and a rushing creek in whites, blues and greens. Poulson completed the series in 2022 with "Valley Life," representing summer. The mural depicts a view of Yosemite Valley looking west toward El Capitan and Sentinel Rock.

Each mural is 14 feet wide and 8 feet high, assembled from seven individual 2-by-8-foot glass panels.