SACRED MOUNTAIN: IMAGES OF MT. DIABLO AND MT. FUJI May 2 - July 3, 2009 Featuring nearly 100 works of art, including paintings, woodblock prints, photographs, works on paper, textiles, and decorative objects, circa 1650 to 2009. Opening Events - Sunday, May 3 2 – 3 pm Lecture: Preserving and Protecting Diablo Ron Brown, Executive Director, Save Mount Diablo Remarks: Fuji and the Japanese People Naoko Uehara, professor of Japanese language Soda Activity Center Event free; exhibition $3 adults, kids free Reception following - 3:15 – 4:30 pm Hearst Gallery & patio      Sacred Mountains at Hearst Art Gallery On opposite sides of the world, these two mountains are a striking part of their respective locales. In Japan, Mount Fuji is a national icon that has become one of the most enduring symbols of that country. Here, Mount Diablo dominates the skyline of Contra Costa County, visible from the San Francisco Bay Area through the low-lying East Bay hills. Many artists have been drawn to these mountains, sometimes for their sheer beauty, other times to bolster historical, spiritual or environmental messages. This exhibition will present a diverse selection of images that illustrate a wide range of artistic choices.     Landscape reached its pinnacle of popularity, overtaking the figure, in 19th century Japan; the subject’s two great masters were Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849) and Ando Hiroshige (1797 – 1858). Figures were depicted in many of the mountain landscapes, usually dwarfed by the grand mountain, often shown winding their way up. No artist since has depicted the majestic Fuji without appreciating the epic works of Hokusai and Hiroshige. Landscape painting came into prominence in the San Francisco Bay Area later in the 19th century, led by Thomas Almond Ayres (1816 – 1858), Virgil Williams (1830 - 1886), Norton Bush (1834 – 1894), William Keith (1838 – 1911), Edwin Deakin (1838 - 1923), and Raymond Dabb Yelland (1848 – 1900). The size and dramatic vistas of Bay Area peaks continues to lure artists today. Ayres, Bush, Deakin and Yelland traveled to the sparsely populated Contra Costa to paint Diablo. Although a bustling, crowded and diverse community today, painters and photographers continue to make artistic pilgrimages to pristine Diablo.

Here are my thoughts on Mt. Diablo from the Concord Naval Weapons Station. I started painting Mt. Diablo in 1980, when I was still living in San Francisco. From my balcony below Twin Peaks I could see the summit, just behind the Oakland Hills. It reminded me of Hokusai’s 36 views of Fuji, done centuries earlier. When I later moved to Contra Costa I was able to get a bit closer when I painted. The image of Diablo from Olympic Blvd was actually done on site, on a 100+ degree day, in front of Del Valle High School in 1993.     By that time we had moved to Concord, about a half mile from the Naval Weapons Station, just off Port Chicago Highway. As an outreach program, I guess to demistify the place a bit, they were offering tours of the weapons station to local residents. My wife and I and our son Nick drove to the Base Commander’s house just inside the gates and were put on a grey school bus which proceeded to transport us around the base. There were bunkers and white boxcars everywhere, with the mountain looming in the background. As we rounded one corner near the rocket propulsion building I looked up to see a particularly spectacular view of Diablo, with ribbons of railroad tracks, bunkers and oak trees. I reached into my pocket for my old Leica and was told quite gravely, but politely, that no photos were allowed. The same sailor used much the same tone earlier when responding to my question: “Are there nuclear weapons here? “ “No comment.” There were no more questions after that one.

The images from the tour stayed with me and I began taking photographs of Diablo and the Weapons Station from my truck, while driving along Highway 4 which had an unobstructed view . Steering wheel in left hand, camera in the other, leaning as far to the right side window as possible, I always felt like a Russian spy and sensed that any moment squads of security forces would descend upon me and I would never be seen again. Didn’t happen. I then turned those furtive photographs into paintings. I still take photos whenever possible from that vantage point, in all kinds of weather and work them up into paintings. That 60 year old camera has always been my sketchbook when I couldn’t work on-site. I was also one of the photographers for “A Day in the Life of Mt. Diablo” around that time. I drove from Blackhawk to Benicia, Martinez and Antioch, taking photos from many miles away. Hokusai was my inspiration for that as well   Some time later the base was in the process of being closed by the Navy and I got a call from the wife of the Commanding Officer. They were relocating to the East Coast and she wondered if she could buy one of my paintings to remember Diablo and the brown hills of summer in California. She had a real love for the visual beauty of the area and I was happy to oblige.   At an opening in San Francisco a while back a plein-air painter, who also does images of Diablo, looked at one of the paintings and asked me how I got that particular angle as she had never discovered a way to paint Diablo from that side.  I smiled and changed the subject......   Warren Dreher, Concord, California, February 2009   "Mt Fuji"     Toshi Yoshida color woodcut private collection 11 x 16" "Diablo from the Weapons Station"    Pastel on Paper 19x25 2007   "Diablo from Olympic Blvd."    Oil on Canvas 24x30 1993  private collection