Take a walk through sparkling lights at Santa Rosa arts center

Sometimes you just have to lighten up, especially during the dark nights of winter.

So Lauren Peters, associate director of marketing, data and communications at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, came up with an idea.

The center already has an outdoor sculpture garden, displaying work by local artists, so why not just light it up for the holidays?

“The idea came from wanting to do something special with our sculpture garden and our visual arts program, something joyful during these darker evenings,” Peters said.

That led to the creation of “Northern Lights,” a free holiday lighting display in the sculpture garden from dusk until 9:30 p.m. every night. It started earlier this month and continues through Jan. 1. The “Northern Lights” also includes six new works Santa Rosa Junior College students created specifically for the display.

“It’s a new program that we just kicked off this year,” Peters said.

For help, Peters called on junior college art teacher Michael McGinnis, well-known nationally as the creator of the Perplexus series of puzzles and known locally for designing the exhibits at the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, where Peters used to work.

“Lauren approached me and asked if some of my students could participate,” McGinnis said. “It was a no-brainer, because it was a chance for the students to work with a public space and design things that fit the landscape.”

The result is an experience that combines art with garden surroundings and hundreds of holiday lights for a cheerful but mellow evening walk.

“The lights are not only on most of the sculptures, but on the trees and lampposts and along the walkway,” Peters said. “The idea is that it’s more like an art installation than just lights.”

The public seems to like the idea, she reported.

“On any given night, there are 150 to 200 people strolling around the grounds. We’ve seen a lot of families with kids,” Peters said.

“We’ve had a lot of excitement about it,” she said. “On Facebook, we’ve had some of the highest engagement we’ve had in recent years.”

While “Northern Lights” will end soon, Peters believes the idea has potential for the future.

“This is the first year we’ve done this,” she said. “We hope to include even more local art next year. People are looking for something to do around the holidays. This is free and open to public. We really look forward to expanding this idea.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.