Liz Goldner, Editor

LAGUNA CANYON PROJECT

Life changing events provoke memories, which in turn cause us to reflect on significant accomplishments – some of which are too quickly forgotten. The event I’m referring to is the passing of Orange County photographer, Jerry Burchfield on 09/11/09.

Some of you knew Jerry very well. Many of you did not. I’m not addressing Jerry’s life or way-too-early death. You can read about him here!

I’m addressing the Laguna Canyon Project that was dear to Jerry’s and Mark Chamberlain’s hearts, and to their photographic documentation of our planet. While that documentation began in 1980, its most significant phase was a huge photo mural installation, The Tell, and its famous Walk of 11,000 people on November 11, 1989. That walk prevented massive suburban development of several thousand Laguna Canyon acres.

Perhaps one day, history will remember and honor The Tell and The Walk. They were among the most significant environmental and performance art events of recent memory, and perhaps more impactful than Christo's "The Gates" in New York's Central Park. But Google "The Tell" today, and you'll find nothing.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Jerry Burchfield and Mark Chamberlain were good-looking, energetic, rabble-rousing, environmental/art photographers who started an art gallery/photography studio, BC Space, in Laguna Beach on April Fools Day, 1973.

Soon BC was mounting monthly photography shows of aggressively contemporary work, while gathering a standing-room-only following of artists and art critics. As a business, BC shot and printed high quality Cibachrome prints for artists and the media, eventually providing Pulitzer Prize winning prints of the L.A. Olympics for the Orange County Register.

CREATING THE LAGUNA CANYON PROJECT

In their "spare," time, Mark and Jerry often photographed the nearby Laguna Canyon. The nine-mile gateway to Laguna Beach, with its gently winding two-lane country road, was one of the last unspoiled passages to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1980, the pair initiated the multi-faceted Laguna Canyon Project to provide documentation of changes of the Canyon over time, "to create a broader awareness of both regional and global environmental issues," according to Mark. He adds, "Local residents see it as a greenbelt buffer, while others view it as virgin territory ripe for development. But we felt it imperative to call into question prevailing conceptions of progress and used photography, video, sculpture, performance, installations, and collaborative events address their concerns." The project has had 15 separate Phases. The largest and most dramatic Phase of the project was The Tell Mural.

PHOTO MURAL IN THE CANYON

Mark explains, "After numerous setbacks and clearing of endless bureaucratic obstacles, we constructed our mural in the canyon, across from the Irvine Company's proposed Laguna Laurel housing project."

As explained in my Tell article, "The name 'Tell' comes from the archeological term for a mound of artifacts from prior civilizations - buried over by natural elements. This Tell was built as a small mountain composed of thousands of photographs, reflective of the lives of the people who donated images. It grew to 636-feet long and ranged from 36-feet high, dwindling down to the ground, as it undulated across the landscape and dove back into the hillside.

"The sculptural character of the artwork resembled the voluptuous nature of the surrounding canyons, with echoes of a female figure in its shape. It had a stylized Easter Island head as its physical and philosophical foundation. The pictures, glued onto the wooden framework, were woven together like pixels in a pointillist painting by density, color, content and type of material. They told numerous stories of man, woman and the land. These symbols were positioned by story lines on the chakra points of the larger body of the photo mural."

PRESERVING THE LAND

Mark says, "On November 11, 1989, we coordinated with local environmental groups to host a Walk (and demonstration) to the mural. As a consequence, the land was released for public acquisition. In 1990, Laguna Beach residents voted to tax themselves to buy it, and the canyon is now a key part of the Laguna Wilderness Park.

"What began as a rambling darkroom discourse with Jerry over what we as artists could do to protect a valuable piece of countryside, evolved into a project that helped preserve that land...Although encroachment is still a threat, the road and its surrounding hills are designated to remain undeveloped forever. That is a very long time, and we plan to continue to refine our art to inform and involve the public...

"Although The Tell was destroyed in the wildfire of '93, it has become a part of local folklore. A portion of it has been incorporated into the Nix Interpretive Center, which serves as the gateway to our 6,200 acre Laguna Wilderness Park."

LOOKING FORWARD

The massive coverage and huge crowds at The Tell’s construction and Walk have receded into yellowed scrapbooks, fond memories and cut-up remnants of the actual Tell structure, with its faded photographs – that today are valuable works of assemblage art.

Environmental and artistic groups gather occasionally to talk about that memorable happening. Meanwhile, residents and visitors in Laguna Beach enjoy the vast, rare open countryside, many unaware of the valiant efforts that went into its preservation.

If Mark Chamberlain and Jerry Burchfield were as famous as Pete Seeger, if Laguna Canyon was as well known as the Hudson River, and if The Tell was as publicized as Seeger’s Sloop "Clearwater" (which publicized the badly polluted Hudson River), The Tell would have yearly celebrations, and residents would know how their land was saved.

The Tell, like the sloop "Clearwater" is about more than a great art project. It is about using art to help make the world a better place...which is perhaps the greatest function of art.

ADDENDUM

Mark Chamberlain explains, "Jared Diamond, in his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, uses the fateful story of the demise of Easter Island as the perfect metaphor for mankind's prospects on this great blue planet, if we don't wake up and implement meaningful change."

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