In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa is putting on an art show that will last a whole year.
The winery's hilltop, overlooking the Russian River Valley, has been decorated with outdoor sculptures created by a score of artists from all over California.
The show, titled "20@20" and staged by the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation, opened Sunday and runs through May 2015.
It's easy to enjoy this one-of-a-kind display of work by both new and established sculptors. The outdoor exhibit is open every day, and admission is free.
"Paradise Ridge really has become Sonoma County's sculpture park," said Debra Lehane, curator for the Voigt foundation, which promotes public sculpture in Sonoma County.
"We want it to be accessible. There are members of our society who probably will never set foot inside a museum," she added. "We want them to know that art is part of our lives. It can make you feel good. It can make you stop and think."
The wide variety of pieces in the show challenge the imagination with some unusual entries. For example, artist Victor King of Sacramento carved a linked chain out of a single, 35-foot-long redwood log — with a chain saw.
"We have one artist named David Duskin, who has basically drawn with rope, through the trees, to bring your eyes through the landscape."
The 4-acre exhibit area at Paradise Ridge Winery is known as Marijke's Grove, named for Marijke Byck-Hoenselaars, who died in a car accident in 2006.
She and her husband, Walter Byck, opened the winery in 1994, and they began their annual Sculpturegrove exhibits the following year.
The first exhibit featured four artists, and one of them, Bay Area ceramic sculptor John Toki, also has a piece in the current "20@20" show.
Two years ago, the winery teamed up with the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation, founded in 2005 by Judy Voigt and her late husband, Al, to promote public art.
The winery and the foundation opened their first joint outdoor sculpture exhibit, "Spirit of the Man," in 2012.
The Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation plans to continue presenting exhibits at Paradise Ridge Winery on a yearly basis, Lehane said.
"It's a very special place," she added.
"We have benches there, and you can just sit and look at the art and listen to the quiet."
(You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. See his ARTS blog at http://arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.)
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