Our heart goes out to everybody affected by the unprecedented California fires. One place particularly affected was Paradise Ridge Winery, which hosted many Burner art pieces in the Voigt Outdoor Sculpture Collection.
We told you about this amazing North Bay Burner art collection in our 2013 story Temple Burns: Not Just For Burning Man Anymore and discussed some mainstream media coverage of it in the 2014 piece A Permanent Temple in Paradise
Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg’s famous piece “LOVE” was there, and survived the burn.
Here’s Burning Man beat reporter Jenny Kane, writing in USA Today:
SANTA ROSE, Calif. — Amid a charred grove of oak trees, one relic still stood this week at the Paradise Ridge Winery — the 12-foot-tall, four-letter word: Love.
The sculpture, which originally debuted at Burning Man in 2007, is probably the most iconic piece of art at the Santa Rosa winery, which over the years has collected dozens of pieces for its sculpture garden, many of them originally from Burning Man. The sculpture, a rustic steel sculpture stamped with flying birds, is popular with newlyweds and is the work of Reno’s Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg.
“That ‘Love’ sculpture has become a symbol of hope in Sonoma County,” said Sonia Byck-Barwick, whose parents opened the winery in 1994. “As my brother said, love conquers all. He took that photo when the property was briefly opened on Monday, and it’s gone viral. High school kids are sharing it on Snapchat and Facebook. It’s their symbol that it’s going to be OK. I mean, how can you not love a sculpture that says love?”
The winery was largely destroyed Sunday night in California’s deadliest week of wildfires. One photographer captured images of wine simmering across the hot ground in the aftermath. More than 8,000 firefighters are battling the 21 wildfires that so far have killed 40 people, burned more than 200,000 acres and destroyed an estimated 5,700 homes and businesses.
The art, however, and most of the Paradise Ridge Winery’s grapes, miraculously survived. Most of the winery’s supply also was in storage, so the business will be able to sell its supply to other distributors.
It’s Santa Rosa, not Santa Rose. Connected to Santa Cruz, the rosy cross – home of the first ever Acid Test. Read the full story here.
The winery was “largely destroyed”, but the art, the grapes, and the harvest miraculously survived. Perhaps the art and the temple and the love brought good luck to Paradise Ridge.
The sculpture survived the fire singed but standing strong. SFGATE
The Temple visible in the background indicates this is not a current picture. Image: Facebook