MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Despite the continuing impacts of the Valley fire on both the south county's people and landscape, the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk exhibition will go on in 2016 and take up the challenge of using art to tell new and poignant stories.

EcoArts will open in the Middletown County Trailside Park on June 5 with a reception beginning at 10 a.m.

The 107-acre park which has, for many years, been the exhibit's annual home burned in the Valley fire last year.

Despite the damage, the park will again play host to the sculpture walk.

Organizers said that this year's exhibit will be “exceptionally challenging but also an immense opportunity.”

The park is located off Dry Creek Cutoff on Highway 175 approximately a mile north of Middletown. 

The Sculpture Walk exhibit itself is located along the center trail of the park and runs along approximately one third of a mile of trail once dotted with trees, shrubs and meadows.

There are two parts to the Sculpture Walk this year. Firstly, with the annual exhibit, organizers have decided to go “back to our roots” and focus on stewardship and a more disciplined approach to the Ecological and environmental part of our annual sculpture walk art.

Organizers hope there will be works that help address the devastation of the park through creative, thought provoking problem solving.

The second part of the Sculpture Walk has to do with the fires. The community has lived through and understands the tragedies of the past year. A special “tribute to our resiliency” section will acknowledge the collective experiences the community went through during the fires. 

Community members are invited to join in providing artwork for this special section. Whether a professional artist or someone who has never made a work before, if you have been impacted by the fires and created an artwork that speaks to you, EcoArts would like to consider your work for the “tribute to resiliency” section of the Sculpture Walk. 

Nine of 10 directors of EcoArts and Middletown Art Center lost their homes. The park venue is burned. But, part of processing and healing can be through creation.

EcoArts encourages you to create and to view creations.

For more information and applications please visit www.EcoArtsLakeCounty.org .