Life, Death and the Inevitable Transformation of the American Military

October 2 - November 20, 2005

For 50 years, the 4,700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station was the heart of Marine air operations. The sprawling base played pivotal roles in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the first Gulf War. In 1993, El Toro was tagged for closure, its 1,800 structures vacated by all but the ghosts and the memories.

In an unusual turn of events, six photographers--Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Robert Johnson, Douglas McCulloh, and Clayton Spada--obtained access to the largest closed military base in the United States. After three years of work, thousands of hours of their photographic archeology have captured the traces, artifacts and haunted echoes from a site of change and conflict.

The land has endured a swift set of transitions--from home to Gabrieliño and Juaneõ Native Americans to Mexican Rancho San Joaquin, from gold rush era Irvine Ranch, bean fields, to sprawling cold war military installation. And the last decade has seen the closure of the base followed by a prolonged and bitter fight over the fate of the land, stranded in the center of developed Orange County. Now, in a remarkable turn of events, the former Marine Corps Air Station will become a vast urban park.

The work on display at Angels Gate explores the controversial and precedent-setting land use struggles. The show focuses on the primary use of the area from 1942 to the present as a military air station. Military artifacts combined with interactive installations, video, mural replications, and still photographs provide an insight into 20th century military life, and an important environment that is in the midst of historic and dramatic changes.

Opening reception: Sunday, October 2, 2-4 pm
3 pm - Public discussion with the artists

Jerry Burchfield is Professor of Photography and Gallery Director at Cypress College, and the author of several books on photography. Known as an environmentally conscious artist-activist, Burchfield's work has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He has been exhibited throughout the U. S., Europe, and Japan, and recently co-founded the Laguna Wilderness Press.

Mark Chamberlain founded and directs the BC Space Gallery and Photographic Art Services in Laguna Beach, one of the oldest contemporary photography galleries in the country. Chamberlain also serves as adjunct faculty member in the Photography Department, Cypress College. Artist, curator and writer, his works have been exhibited and published throughout the U. S. and abroad and are held in museum, corporate and individual collections. Large-scale projects include the ongoing Laguna Canyon Project, in collaboration with Jerry Burchfield, video documentation of the Artist Elders of Laguna Beach, and River Tales, video and still documentation of life along the Mississippi river.

Jacques Garnier's projects include Beneath the Veil about absence and presence; Views from the Edge, a look at the emptiness of city life; Traces, focusing on the tensions between technology and humanity; Illusions, concerned with the deceptions of appearances; Wabi-Sabi, a Zen-like appreciation of the discarded; and Camera-Sky-Ocean-Light, a collaborative work with Douglas McCulloh. Garnier's work has been shown extensively in the U. S. and abroad and is included in private, corporate, and museum collections.

Robert Johnson is a photographer, musician, educator, and Chair of the Photography Department at Cypress College. As a former darkroom assistant to Ansel Adams and custom printer for many other photographers, he earned a national reputation for printing both color and black & white images. He introduced digital photography and imaging into his departmental curriculum and teaches technology and its relationship to photography. Exhibitions include Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, the Friends of Photography, BC Space Gallery, Irvine Fine Arts Center, CSU Fullerton, Colorado State University, Elmira College, and Utah State University.

Douglas McCulloh works as an artist, lecturer and workshop instructor, and holds an M.F.A. in photography and digital media from Claremont Graduate University. McCulloh has a growing reputation as a chronicler of California. His book, Chance Encounters: The L.A. Project, was published by the University of California and the California Museum of Photography. McCulloh's solo exhibitions include the California Museum of Photography; Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, California; Getty Gallery at the Los Angeles Public Library; Claremont Graduate University; Wriston Art Center at Lawrence University, Wisconsin; and Positive Space Gallery in New Orleans.

Clayton Spada is an artist, curator, writer, and adjunct faculty member in the Photography Department of Cypress College. Regularly invited by Tsinghua University, Beijing to lecture in contemporary Western photographic art and technique, he is a former Executive Director and Director of Exhibitions at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, and a co-founder and editor of the cultural arts quarterly, NoMoPoMo: A Contemporary Artist's Resource. Spada has produced several exhibition catalogs, including Hsin: A Visible Spirit. Contemporary Photography from the People's Republic of China, which won a national design award.

Jerry Burchfield Empty Bunker

Jerry Burchfield 406 Applied Ins Bull mural

Jerry Burchfield Bldg. 471 Flying Blue

Jerry Burchfield ET Stairs Series #3, 2004 Bldg. #14 MWCS-38 Squadron Headquarters

Jerry Burchfield ET Stairs Series #2

Jerry Burchfield 366 Interior, BQuarters

Jerry Burchfield Findings - #5

Robert Johnson Amazon Basin

Robert Johnson Beam Me Up

Robert Johnson Snake Lodge

Robert Johnson Chiseled

Robert Johnson Glowing Window Pain

Robert Johnson Got a Light?

Robert Johnson Ice Age

Robert Johnson In the Breeze

Robert Johnson Jimbo's Pain

Robert Johnson Pain of Glass

Robert Johnson Snake Charmer

Robert Johnson Stop Pain

Robert Johnson Talk to the Hand

Robert Johnson The Sun Sets on Geometry

Robert Johnson Crucifiction

Robert Johnson The Waking

Robert Johnson Two Faced

Robert Johnson Better Than One

Robert Johnson Welcome

Robert Johnson Who Do

Clayton Spada Gate #9 - Structure 725

Clayton Spada

Clayton Spada