Celebrating art on the ridge

<p>For a decade the artists in a hilltop neighborhood above Bennett Valley have opened their doors to display their paintings, fused glass and other artwork.</p><p>“There’s a lot of talent up here,” said Frank Tansey, the retired head of admissions and financial aid for Sonoma State University.</p><p>Tansey and his wife, attorney Nancy Watson, are regulars at Art on the Ridge, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.</p><p>The event, which opened Saturday and continues from noon to 5 p.m. today, features 17 artists, most of whom live along Bennett Ridge in homes tucked among oaks, bays and madrones. The rural neighborhood is about five miles from Santa Rosa off Bennett Valley Road.</p><p>The art on display includes paintings, ceramic sculpture, wrought iron furniture, kiln-formed glass and turned-wood bowls.</p><p>Len Mygatt, a former resident, said he returns each year to a friend’s home to show off his wrought iron tables and garden art.</p><p>“It’s a way to share the kind of things I like to do,” said Mygatt, who now lives in Petaluma with his wife Connie, who was displaying paintings and wearable art.</p><p>Across the road Chuck Quibell was showing off wooden bowls and other vessels he had made, most from burls of trees found in Sonoma County. The wood included bay, locust, madrone, olive, carob and oak.</p><p>Quibell, a retired Sonoma State University botany professor, said he searches for trees that have fallen down or are being cut down.</p><p>“I used to look for living trees,” he said. “Now I look for dying ones.”</p><p>Several artists were unsure why so many live in the neighborhood. But they acknowledged that the residents, both artists and mere art lovers, have long worked toward establishing community. They have put together barbecues, holiday parties and gatherings to look at the stars in a part of the county without street lights.</p><p>They are drawn together partly because they are off by themselves, located about halfway between both Santa Rosa and Kenwood, said artist Karen Sommer.</p><p>“The isolation forces you to do more together,” said Sommer, who with her husband Stan produces monotypes, which involve painting and drawing on flat plates combined with the use of an etching press to make unique images.</p><p>A few blocks from the Sommers’ home, resident Colleen Cotten was displaying her kiln-formed glass with friend Char Banach, who was exhibiting acrylic paintings.</p><p>Cotten said the art show not only gives her the chance to see lots of neighbors. It also helps her complete preparations for the upcoming countywide event known as Artrails. That weekend tour of studios runs Oct. 11 through 18.</p><p>Visitors can find the Art on the Ridge studios by turning from Bennett Valley Road onto Old Bennett Ridge Road. Each studio is marked with a yellow number, and each has maps with directions to the other studios.</p><p>Those who visit today have the option of combining the art tour with a stop at the annual Bennett Valley Fire Department’s Community Day barbecue at nearby Matanzas Creek Winery.</p>