RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Transportation, development and the environment are topics that might come up at City Council meetings, but college professors Deena Capparelli and Claude Willey want to bring them to the museum.
These days, conversations about the Inland Empire are hard to have without a discussion on rapid growth. Many cities are rapidly transforming, trading traces of rural landscape with modern development.
Capparelli and Willey, a married couple, want people who have these discussions to be aware of all the problems that coincide with the changes.
Hence, "Invisible Trajectories: Passing Through the Inland Empire," the new exhibit at Wignall Museum at Chaffey College, which opens Monday.
Through maps, stories, blogs, photos and drawings, "Invisible Trajectories" is a story project about the couple's many journeys through the nooks and crannies of the Inland Empire. Whether they were by foot on the Pacific Electric Trail or at a punk rock skate shop in San Bernardino - the two, along with collaborator Mark Tsang - tried to find identity in the sprawl.
"The Inland Empire is just like any other low-density region but on steroids," said Willey, who teaches urban studies and planning at Cal State Northridge.
Oftentimes, development stimulates the economy but it drives out local agriculture and can cause havoc on the environment, said Capparelli, a Rancho Cucamonga native.
The exhibit, which received funding from the California Council for the Humanities as part of its California Stories initiative, also showcases some of Capparelli's drawings of her journeys.
A list of events, including a bicycle ride from Altadena to Rancho Cucamonga and a screening of a film in progress "Local 909er," is scheduled in conjunction with the exhibit.
Filmmaker Enid Baxter Blader said her movie "Local 909er" has been four years in the making and is expected to be complete this August.
The film documents the changes happening in many Inland Valley cities.
"Basically what we did was shoot every weekend to see what was coming up and what was coming down," said Blader.
The filmmaker said while housing and economic growth is very much needed, it is also important to pay attention to sustainability and culture.
"Sometimes I worry that you can drive in the U.S. and go from one town to the next and not know where you are," she said.
"Invisible Trajectories" will be open through March 3.
For more information, call (909) 941-2702 or visit www.chaffey.edu/wignall/invisibletrajectories.
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