Picturing California’s Other Landscape:
The Great Central Valley

--Reviewed by Dan Webster
The genesis of this lavish book was an exhibit of the same name held at the Haggin Museum in Stockton, California. Editor Heath Schenker first created the museum exhibit which presents, through visual art, the ways in which the Great Central Valley has been viewed over the past 150 years.

The resulting book, published by Heyday Books, is a stunning collection of paintings, photographs, maps, and commercial art (fruit crate labels, etc.) with short essays often penned by the artists. Unlike the familiar coffee table books representing the coast and the mountains of California, the images in Picturing California’s Other Landscape are not all beautiful in the sense of being immediately pleasing to eye. There is a story here to tell, and it’s more than just a fairy tale.

From Promised Land to Paradise Lost, the Central Valley has been exploited by many people who have often been at odds with other groups who are seeking to make a life for themselves in California’s heartland. The pictures and paintings here provide a historical and imaginative exploration of the themes that still resonate in the social and political fabric of Valley life.

Outdoor educators often find themselves teaching the sons and daughters of the Valley at residential science schools usually located in the foothills, mountains, or along the coast. This book provides a multi-modal way to envision the backdrop of these children’s environmental and social background. Whether they are recent emigrants of Bay Area families seeking affordable homes and a backyard, or descendants of Dustbowl escapees, the Valley’s children live in an area that many outdoor educators know little about.

Flying down Highways 99 or 5 at 75 mph, or zipping along 580 East to Yosemite will teach you little about the landscape you are traveling through. This book tells you the rest of the story in images often compelling, beautiful, haunting, and disturbing in turn. The sparse text helps interpret the images which go a long way towards outlining the history and social themes that define the people who live there.

Malcolm Margolin of Heyday Books has published another compelling work that helps us to understand and appreciate the California that we live in. I recommend adding this book to your school library or home collection.

Heyday Books www.heydaybooks.com
Heath Schenker http://lda.ucdavis.edu/people/websites/schenker.html

 

For more resources on understanding the Great Valley, see the 2005 Spring Conference proceedings for handouts and resources from Dan's workshop: aeoe.org/conference/resources/2005