Mark Chamberlain (photographer)

A crucial phase of this project was The Tell photographic mural,[6] which in 1989 became the site of a large demonstration that helped avert the development of the area into a massive housing community.

In 2002, the art partners co-founded "The Legacy Project," which documented the transition of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro[7] into the Orange County Great Park.

"The Legacy Project" members, ultimately numbering six, created The Great Picture,[8] one of the largest photographs in the world made as a single seamless image.

On October 22, 2014, Mark Chamberlain received a Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award as an “Artistic Visionary” from Arts Orange County.

A solo retrospective of Chamberlain's 40-year artistic career, “Reflections of an Armchair Arteologist," was held in early 2010 at Soka University, Aliso Viejo, California.

[17] Lynn Smith wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1983, “They rented an original Masonic Lodge building on Forest Avenue and set up a studio that specialized in art reproduction, restoration of old photos and custom laboratory work.

BC Space was not your typical ‘do it yesterday’ sort of operation, and their regular clientele soon settled into those who, like them, appreciated a relaxed approach to creativity and allowed them the time to do their own work.

The gallery was virtually converted into a museum where visitors spent three to four hours viewing prints by Matthew Brady, Imogen Cunningham, George Hurrel, Philippe Halsman, André Kertész, and Helmut Newton, as well as work by young artists from California.

A tremendous amount of hard work, artist support, and volunteer help secured the auction's success and financed the second gallery room.” Among the venue's many accomplishments was its 1984 printing of the Orange County Register Los Angeles Olympics photographs.

[21]) After Burchfield left BC Space in 1987 to pursue a teaching career, Chamberlain expanded the gallery's perspectives, exhibiting other visual and performance media on an equal footing with photography.

These include: “Banned & Barred” (2001), dealing with the practice of censorship in art;[24] “Water Works” (2001), addressing concerns of water use, misuse, and abuse; “Urbanscapes” (2002), a lyrical depiction of man's impact and legacy on our planet; “Pretty Lies/Dirty Truths” (2003), addressing issues of war & peace in our time;[25] “Wheels of Justice” tour (2004), presented by members of Voices in the Wilderness, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the Middle East Children's Alliance, and affiliates of the International Solidarity Movement;[26] “For Shame” (2005), comparing definitions of obscenity in art with politics:[27] “Beyond Borders: Southern Exposure – Opening Boundaries” (2007), featuring politically-oriented photographs of Latin America by James Lerager, with social commentary poster work by Doug Minkler;[28][29] and “My Father's Party is Busted” (2008),[30] presaging the rise of the Republican Tea Party.

In 2010, BC Space's exhibition history was displayed at Grand Central Art Center gallery (California State University Fullerton), Santa Ana, CA in “BC Space: Mything in Action.” Bill Lasarow, ArtScene editor, wrote in April 2010, “It is heartening to see an artist like Mark Chamberlain gaining regional recognition for a more than a 40-year body of work distinguished as much for its community and collaborative nature as its pure aesthetic achievement.

Subsequent BC Space exhibitions included: “Homeless in Paradise” (2011), featuring photographs of the homeless in Southern California;[32] Capital Crime$ (2012), a mixed media exhibition including work by over 60 artists, exploring the use and misuse of money in our culture;[33][34][35] and “Autumnal Recollections With Our Friend Paul” (2013), an artistic retrospective of the 92-year-old Laguna Beach icon, Paul Darrow, a painter, assemblage artist, photographer, cartoonist, sailor and musician; he was included in Getty Foundation sponsored 2011-2012 Pacific Standard Time exhibitions at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

[36] From February 25 through April 26, 2014, BC Space presented “Silent But Deadly: Chernobyl-Fukushima-San Onofre,” addressing the fact that some 400 commercial nuclear power reactors are operational around the world, 100 of them in the United States.

Lynn Smith wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1983, “The project started three years ago when the pair photographed both sides of the Canyon in daylight, walking along the scenic nine-mile road in nine hours.

Cathy Curtis wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1989,[40] “Their zeal is fueled not so much by aesthetic concerns as by a passionate desire to preserve the future of what Chamberlain has described as ‘the last remaining natural corridor to the Pacific Ocean in Orange County and one of the largest natural open spaces in Southern California.’” The concluding phase of the "Laguna Canyon Project" was celebratory documentation and walk off the nine-mile Laguna Canyon Road.

[43][44][45][46] The installation attracted national media attention, including CNN, Life magazine, and numerous articles in the Los Angeles Times,[47] and ultimately helped facilitate the public purchase of that land for preservation.

At 34-feet high, dwindling down to the ground, it echoed the shape of the surrounding canyons, while a stylized Easter Island head served as its physical and philosophical foundation.

[48] The purpose of the Walk and Demonstration, attended by an estimated 9,000 to 11,000 people, was to protest the already mapped-out 2,150-acre “Laguna Laurel” housing project (and the nearby San Joaquin Toll Road).

Largely as a consequence of this reportedly the largest environmental demonstration in Orange County, CA, the housing development was canceled, the land was purchased from the Irvine Company, and was dedicated in perpetuity as Laguna Coast Wilderness Park in 1993.

After construction was commenced, Chamberlain and Burchfield engaged in a day-long performance art piece at the site of the road,[49] that today runs adjacent to the wilderness region.

Burchfield and Chamberlain's extensive documentation of Laguna Canyon led naturally to their involvement with the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and to the future of the base's 4,700 contiguous undeveloped acres in Irvine, California.

Chamberlain and Burchfield had been shooting the marine base since 2002; in 2005, they formally created “The Legacy Project,” with fellow photographers, Jacques Garnier, Rob Johnson, Douglas McCulloh and Clayton Spada.

[60] On April 23, 2018, Chamberlain died of lung cancer at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Irvine, CA [61] "The Laguna Canyon Project: Refining Artivism" (2018).