Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens partners with the Arts Council of Mendocino County to present this biennial exhibition of sculptures placed throughout the Gardens. This outdoor exhibit features the work of primarily California artists. Artwork purchased through the exhibit benefits the Gardens and the Arts Council. Artists generously contribute 40% of all proceeds to the two nonprofits. When you purchase a sculpture, you are sustaining creativity as a source of livelihood as well as supporting our beautiful Gardens and the Arts Council.
All sculptures in this exhibit are for sale; contact the Gardens’ administrative offices for more information at administration@gardenbythesea.org or call 707-964-4352 ext. 113.
2025-2027 Featured Art
Sales tax (7.875% Mendocino County; subject to change) and delivery fee not included in the price
Mark Oldland
Mariposa Kinetic $2,900
Stainless steel, aluminum and concrete; 11’7” tall x 5’ x 28” wide
Location: Perennial Garden
Artist’s description:
The kinetic pieces I’ve built are meant to move somewhat unpredictably. Patterns emerge after watching them for a while. A friend & fellow artist told me this design reminded her of a butterfly. Indeed, me too. That’s when it acquired color and the “eyes” of a butterfly. I’m prone to calling them flutterbys rather than the prevalent name.
Jill Peterson
Buddha’s Hand $1,900
Ceramic with enamel paint; 22″ tall x 35″ wide
Location: Succulent Garden
Artist’s description:
My work is inspired by the forms, lines, and colors I find both in my garden and the natural world around me. This sculpture was created after I spent time examining and handling the citrus fruit Buddha’s hand. I was dazzled by its unique structure and hues as it ripens from green to yellow. These observations guided my own interpretation of the fruit’s form, texture and colors reflected in this sculpture.
Peter Baker
Black Bolete $5,500
Mendocino cypress; 3’ tall x 3′ wide
Location: North Forest
Sonya Popow
Whorl $3,800
Ceramic; 16″ tall x 48″ wide x 16″deep
Location: Fuchsia Dell
About the Artist:
Sonya Popow drew inspiration from the natural world—skeletal remains, seed pods, diatoms, plankton, fruits, pollen, and flowers. Some of her works are nearly representational, while others use these natural forms as a springboard for abstraction. Sonya worked in clay for more than fifty years, leaving a rich legacy before her passing in March 2025.
Wendell Rickon
Not a Ladder but a Knot Ladder $775
Various woods; 74″ tall x 10″ wide x 2″ deep
Location: Narrows
Artist’s description:
A little side hustle I have is making kindling from scrap wood that collects from my many art and other projects. While chopping to size the knots that don’t split into proper kindling, I save some in a box. I have always liked knots. While wondering what I could make with them, I came up with this sculpture.
Diego Harris
River Guardian $17,000
Corten steel sheeting welded over an internal structure of steel rebar; 8’ 2” tall x 6’ 11” wide x 3’ 5” deep
Location: Dahlia Garden
Artist’s description:
River Guardian is a large corten steel sculpture with an internal structure of steel rebar. It is an abstract sculpture, but it is somewhat plant-like in its design. I took inspiration for it from shapes and designs of the natural world. I also like to blend these more natural elements with the more hard-edged and mechanical designs of modern industry. There are two opposing shapes at the top of the sculpture. The spiral has many manifestations in nature as well as in the universe as a whole. It is the building block of life. The other is a more serpent or vine-like branch, but can also be seen as water flowing in a river. Although the spiral is the larger shape out of the two, they are very balanced because the serpentine branch is so dynamic and leads the eye up, whereas the spiral causes you to look more toward the center. It has such a strong stance that I thought it almost looked as though it was standing guard. I tried to think what it would be guarding and then decided that, since it had such a water-like feel to me, it would be fitting to call it River Guardian.
My sculpture is completely seam-welded. It’s very strong and safe. It has had all of its edges sanded smooth. There is an internal structure of steel rebar. Since it is made of corten steel, it will develop a fine rust patina that will help to preserve it for many years to come. It can be either bolted down in four locations or it can be welded down at any point along its base. It can fit on a square plinth of at least 4×4 ft.
Rogelio Morales
Armin $4,000
Fiberglass reinforced concrete, structural foam, stainless steel wire; 50″ tall x 26″ wide x 18″ deep
Location: Brooding Hawk Trail leading to the Vegetable Garden
Artist’s description:
A sock puppet can be a simple object that can be fashioned in minutes with minimal effort. Once made, it can create a world of its own in the imagination of the puppeteer.
Armin is made from fiber-reinforced cast concrete and took around two years to make. The sock texture comes from a hand-knitted sock, which I commissioned for this project.
Nate Scott
Gryphon $21,545
Steel and found metals, including gears, wrenches, ornamental iron, cast iron bench, bathtub claw feet, mechanical thresher blades with automotive finish; 72” tall x 47” wide x 55” deep.
Location: South Trail between the Event Lawn and the Bluffs
Artist’s description:
Gryphon draws from ancient mythology to explore strength, guardianship, and transformation. The gryphon — half lion, half eagle — has historically represented the balance between earth and sky, body and spirit, power and wisdom. I was drawn to this creature’s duality and its role as a timeless protector, watching over treasures both material and symbolic.
In this work, I reinterpret the myth through contemporary materials — forged steel and found metals gathered from the remnants of human industry. Gears, wrenches, and thresher blades once served functional, mechanical purposes; now, they are reassembled into a form that evokes life, tension, and motion. This combination of cast off metals and machinery parts is a modern interpretation being rooted in legend, suggesting how myth adapts and persists even in a technological age.
