New galleries, new photo exhibit

We in Carson City live in an unusual enviroment: a Great Basin where all the rivers flow into that basin and die. It's an environment of sagebrush and bristlecone pines, of mountains and valleys, of snow and sand - and unparalled beauty to the discerning eye.

That's a large part of why we live here. We may not put it in words, but the aura of the Great Basin pervades our very lives.

Artists and writers have expored this unqiue geogrphical entity for centures, and now photographer and naturalist Stephen Trimble has helped us to see our land. An exhibit of his photography will be on display at the Nevada State Museum on Carson Street starting Monday and remaining through Aug. 21.

It's an exhibition not to be missed. Here's what he says about the Great Basin in his book "The Sagebrush Ocean," from which the show is adapted:

"Even the most casual Great Basin explorers come to grips with the distinctiveness of this desert," Trimble writes. "Here in the Great Basin, each of us stands above basin floors or on the ridges of bald mountains, tall among the stands of saltbush or greasewood or bunchgrass, piercing space and time, creating a scene, a drama." (The book is on sale at the museum for $39.95.)

"The Sagebrush Ocean: A Naturalist's Vision of the Great Basin," is the title of the show, which features Trimble's stunning photography based on years of hiking, backpacking and living out of his truck in the Basin. The exhibit is is organized by the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City. A free public reception is planned for the evening of March 24.

Naturalist, writer and photographer, Stephen Trimble has won many awards for his nonfiction, fiction, and photography, including the Ansel Adams Award from The Sierra Club. His 18 books focusing on homeland, wildland, and Indian land, include "Blessed By Light: Visions of the Colorado Plateau" (editor); "The People: Indians of the American Southwest"; "The Geography of Childhood: Why Children Need Wild Places" (with Gary Nabhan); "Earthtones: A Nevada Album" (with Ann Ronald) and "The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin."

Based on Trimble's book "The Sagebrush Ocean," the State Museum's exhibit reveals an intimate view of a land where "the desert almost seems to mirror the sky in size." Where mountains hold "ravens, bristlecone pines, winter stillness - and unseen, but satisfying, the possibility of bighorn sheep."

The exhibit's opening will unveil the museum's new 3,000-square-foot changing gallery - more than double the size of previous space for changing exhibits. The museum plans to use the space to host a series of future traveling exhibits from around the country as well as exhibits produced by the museum.

Raymond Geiser, exhibits manager at the museum, is delighted with the new, spacious galleries, which replace some of the old collections. The white-walled, black-ceiled spaces "will allow us to show exhibitions of major museums, such as the 'Sagebush Ocean' show, which comes to us from the Field Museum in Chicago through the Utah Museum of Natural History.

"These new galleries will offer major, changing shows. For a long time our exhibits have been static and so few people came back after one visit We want to change that, bring all of Nevada back again and again the the musuem."

The museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, and free for children under 18. For information, call (775) 687-4810.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: The Sagebrush Ocean: A Naturalist's Vision of the Great Basin Photography Exhibit

WHEN: March 7-August 21

WHERE: Nevada State Museum, Carson City

INFORMATION CALL: 687-4810

TICKETS: $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, free for children under 18