VANISHED: A CHRONICLE OF LOSS AND DISCOVERY IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ACROSS HALF A MILLION YEARS

How do we see what is no longer there? How can we visualize a volcano that once dominated the horizon but is now gone? Vanished: A Chronicle of Loss and Discovery Across Half a Million Years is a transdisciplinary project about a volcano, a mammoth, a tree and a man—all of which once existed in Northern California, but are now gone—yet each persists as a powerful idea. This collaboration between three visual artists, two writers and a volcanologist considers how we assemble the past through photographs, sculptures, graphic illustrations and writing. A recent exhibition at California State University, Chico showcases the result of the group’s exploration of the questions of what one might find when searching for something that no longer exists. Where did each of these go? How did they shape our world? What do they mean to us today? Of most geologic relevance, Vanished explores ancient Mt. Tehama and a 10 ka mammoth tooth. Mt. Tehama is the volcanic edifice that pre-dates Lassen Peak in the southern Cascades. This 80 km³ stratovolcano was built from intermediate lavas and pyroclastic deposits 590-385 ka (Clynne et al., 2010), which have been hydrothermally altered and eroded by glacial and fluvial processes, leaving only remnant ridges from what were the flanks of the volcano. Just 80 km from ancient Mt. Tehama, a mammoth tooth was discovered in a stream channel (affectionately referred to as “the ditch”) by a group of students on a geology class fieldtrip. In preparing the tooth for preservation, the tooth was destroyed, so has once again Vanished. In each case, the exhibition provides visitors the opportunity to visualize and contemplate these lost icons of northern California, through their own imagination, as well as through the vision provided by the group. In doing so, Vanished explores concepts of space and time and loss and discovery through seemingly constant, stable landforms such as a volcano.