Stretching from Bakersfield to Redding, California's Central Valley comprises a landscape with strong visual characteristics, says a UC Davis scholar. But few people understand its character, its vastness. "The sense of space, the big sky, the flatness of the horizon, the backdrop of mountains on a good day and the patterns created by agriculture" all contribute to the variety of the Central Valley, says Heath Schenker, a professor of environmental design, a landscape architect and an art historian. The cultural ideas of the valley's landscape interest Schenker. "In coming to the Central Valley, I landed in a part of California that is largely unknown, a place that's not easy to understand." In her quest to get to know the valley's vast area, Schenker created an exhibition that focuses solely on the valley's landscape. "Shining a spotlight on California's interior, cutting through the tule fog and the fog of cultural invisibility, the exhibition's images show a place with a strong regional identity and far more nuances than the views from Highway 5 or 99 can reveal," Schenker says. The exhibit spans 150 years and includes some of the earliest maps of the valley, as well as paintings, sculptures, photographs and commercial images, some of which are gathered from museums including the Oakland Museum, Crocker Art Museum and the California Historical Society, and from private collections. Artists represented include Ansel Adams, Wayne Thiebaud, Malaquias Montoya, Dorothea Lange and Frank LaPena. The exhibition opened this week and runs 1:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, through Dec. 31, at The Haggin Museum, 1201 N. Pershing Ave., Stockton, (209) 462-4116. A 200-page book, "Picturing California's Other Landscape: The Great Central Valley," (Heyday Books) has been published along with the exhibit.