| We're very pleased to announce our new exhibit, The Gardens of LA | Mendota Water Project, by Berkeley-based photographer Bill Mattick. Those of you who have followed the gallery from the start may remember that the gallery's inaugural exhibit back in 2009 was Bill's series The Caretakers. This new exhibit will run from February 21 to March 30. A reception will take place on Thursday, March 7, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Corden|Potts Gallery is located at 49 Geary Street, Suite 410, in San Francisco. Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 am to 5:30 pm and until 7:30 pm on the first Thursday of the month. Speaking about his work Bill says, "As landscape photography takes on a more political burden and less of a metaphorical one, I consider contemporary issues of land use as it affects the greater good. Questions of unbridled development, ecological abuses and the myth of the American Dream all resonate for me in this work." More specifically, when he speaks about his Gardens of LA project, Bill says, "Greater Los Angeles county and all of the surrounding counties, indeed most of southern California, are in service to the philosophy of urban sprawl, the 'more is better' notion that is so Los Angeles and so American. Los Angeles shimmers with all the infirmities of many mega-cities. It is densely inhabited, broken, shapeless and tasteless. And so, I photograph there frequently and make pictures in the spirit of the place." "I was standing at the side of a state road east of I-5 adjusting my 8x10 camera," Bill says explaining the genesis of his Mendota Water Project series. "In the distance I heard a vehicle approaching from the west. A light colored sedan pulled off to the side of the road about 200 feet from where I was. I was at the same time curious and apprehensive. A middle aged man approached asking me , '...what do you see out there?' I explained briefly that I was interested in Mendota, a small Ag town about 12 miles east. "He introduced himself as a former farm labor organizer," Bill continues, "and proclaimed Mendota to be ground zero for the water problems in the greater San Joaquin Valley. This was the beginning of my personal odyssey in the central valley. I believe this project is directly related to the work I have been doing in southern California." Bill's work has been seen in solo and group exhibits around the country, He was one of the five artists featured in the documentary film, Working Title (2006). His work has been reviewed in Artforum and After Image magazines. In both 1995 and 2003, Mattick was chosen one of the Top 50 Photographers for the Maine Photographic Workshop's Golden Light Awards and his work has appeared in numerous publications. He teaches photography in the Creative Arts Department at DeAnza College. Please join us on March 7 to greet Bill and view this important body of work. Liz and Jan | 
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