By Carol L. Haines, Public Relations Officer, The Concord Museum. The exhibit, "Extending the View: Photographs by Richard Cheek of Conserved Landscapes of Massachusetts", runs from February 8 to June 10, 2001 at the museum.

Hutchins' Farm, Concord; Richard Cheek. On view at the Concord Museum starting in February. (click for a larger view; use your back button to return to this article)

Emerson wrote in his journal: "Every natural form to the smallest, a leaf, a sunbeam, a moment of time, a drop, is related to the whole, and partakes of the beauty of the whole." Thoreau in particular is given credit by historians for his unique ability to perceive the landscape both as a picture and as a process; that landscape could be looked at "with the eye of an artist" and also recognized as "a body [that] has a spirit, is organic, and fluid to the influence of its spirit"

The work of Thoreau and Emerson continues to inspire 21st-century efforts to conserve landscape. The Town of Concord contains hundreds of acres conserved hundreds of acres of land, including most recently Mattison Field and the Thoreau Birthplace.

All told, Massachusetts now has 1.1 million acres of land permanently protected from development -- over one-fifth of the state. This record is extraordinary in light of the fact that Massachusetts is the sixth smallest state in area, but the thirteenth most populous. Few other urbanized states can boast a higher percentage of their area under protection. The custodians and promoters of this remarkable legacy of conservation include town and city governments, state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations like The Trustees of Reservations, private institutions, and generous landowners.

The Exhibit and More The Concord Museum exhibit is open to the public from February 8 to June 10, 2001. A full calendar of activities for adults, children and families accompanies the exhibition: a gallery talk and book signing with photographer Richard Cheek; winter snowshoe quest in collaboration with The Old Manse; a canoe trip; walking tours; a photography workshop and contest for children; a slide lecture; and a land conservation conference. See the ConcordMA.com Events Calendar for details.

The exhibition at the Concord Museum, "Extending the View", like the companion book, Land of the Commonwealth, is a timely call to renew these commitments to conservation for the benefit of generations to come.

The Concord Museum and The Trustees of Reservations present an exhibition of forty stunning color photographs by Richard Cheek which celebrate extraordinary conserved Massachusetts landscapes -- some familiar and beloved, others little-known and waiting to be discovered. These places are cherished for reasons as diverse as the places themselves; some as remnants of the vital ecology of New England, some for long historical association with people and events, some for their inspiring beauty.

An outgrowth of a new photographic book by Richard Cheek, Land of the Commonwealth: A Portrait of the Conserved Landscapes of Massachusetts (at right), this special exhibition captures exemplary natural, designed, working, historical, and literary landscapes from Old Deerfield to the Back Bay Fens in Boston; from Hutchins Farm in Concord to Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham; and from Long Hill in Beverly to the Swift River Reservation in Petersham.

A resident of Belmont, photographer Richard Cheek has devoted his career to recording the visual history of American architecture and landscape design and is one of the most widely published photographers in New England. His photographs are well known to a variety of audiences for their ability to both describe and celebrate the subject, whether it be a piece of 18th-century New England furniture or a frozen winter vista.

"Extending the View" offers a rare opportunity to see his work in a gallery setting and includes additional photographs not reproduced in Land of the Commonwealth. Richard Cheek's photographs of conserved landscapes "represent, in a highly aesthetic way, the hidden worlds of processes, connections, and consequences that, in violated landscapes, are lost. Each of these seemingly perfect landscapes, whether designed by a landscape architect, cultivated by a farmer, managed by a forester, or left to its own natural devices, is a real place literally crawling and sprouting with life." (Robert E. Cook, Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, in the introduction to Land of the Commonwealth.)

Photo: ©Richard Cheek, courtesy of The Concord Museum
Backgrounds: ABC Giant.