UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Wine Studio is hosting a wine tasting event featuring wines from Cache Creek Vineyards and an artist reception with artists Rolf Kriken and Karen Turcotte on Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7.

The Friday event will take place from 5 to 8 p.m., while hours on Saturday will be 4 to 7 p.m.

This event includes an optional progressive three-course winemaker dinner at the Tallman Hotel following the appetizer course at the Studio on May 7. Winemaker Derek Holstein will be at the Studio and Tallman Hotel for the reception and the special dinner event. Musical guest on guitar is Steve Winkle.

The $15 ($12/per person for studio club members) wine sampler and appetizers by Fresh and Bangin' Eatery presented at the studio will showcase the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc with a split pea crostini with lardons, 2013 Chardonnay with a blackened fish taco, 2011 Reserve Chardonnay with carmelized onion plus asiago latka with creme fraiche and chives, and 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon with cherry mole on beef tenderloin over rice.
 
The wines and menu prepared by guest chef Mark Linback at the Tallman Hotel on May 7 will feature the 2014 Cabernet Rosé with a baby spring vegetable salad dressed with goat cheese, almonds and parsley sauce, followed by the 2010 Syrah with roast breast of duck, celery root puree, walnut slaw and red wine gastrique. The dessert course will be a chocolate mascarpone sandwich with berry glaze paired with the 2010 Petite Sirah.
 
Reservations for the Saturday tasting at the Studio and dinner at the Tallman are $80 plus tax and may be obtained by calling the Tallman Hotel at 707-275-2244, Extension 0.
 
A master foundryman, artist Rolf Kriken will have a number of his bronze sculptures installed at the Wine Studio for viewing during the receptions and month of May.

Intensely familiar with the horrors of war, having served our country in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1968 – three years active duty and three years reserve – Kriken resumed his education after returning home, and from 1973 while actively working as an artist, sculptor and foundry man at the same time, graduated with his master's degree in fine arts in 1975.

Following a position as an instructor at the Richmond Art Center, he was the director of the Berkeley Art Foundry from 1975 to 1979. He then opened his own foundry in Oakland, The Nordhammer Art Foundry, which he relocated to Kelseyville in 1991.

Kriken was commissioned to create the three-dimensional, life-size sculptures, bronze fabrication and art work for the California Vietnam Memorial in Sacramento, dedicated in 1988 to the 5,822 Californians who died or remain missing from the Vietnam War, and honors every man and woman who served in war.

He has exhibited in more than 60 locations since becoming an artist and has produced several commissioned works of public art. Kriken was quoted last year during another exhibit of his works, "My work is for those who have been killed and to help me find some finality and closure with what happened. I am trying to raise awareness about how we aren't learning from our history. I just keep trying to expose the craziness and also honor those who have served - I care about our fellow soldiers who have served."
 
Artist Karen Turcotte will be showing a variety of mixed media art, sculpture and three-dimensional works.

Turcotte's love of nature and natural materials manifests in much of her work, whether riffing on the politics of war or capturing a botanical texture, she strives to take nature into the realm of man.

She arrived at her conceptual perspective through a certain cynicism that ecology and history teach.  A background in horticulture taught her to respect the fragility and beautiful cruelty of nature's evolutionary web.

As a student of history, she understands the inevitable repetition of conquering and destruction man has sustained for millennia.

Turcotte's message is a contrast between primordial forms and colors, and the preternatural chaos of man's dominance. "Whether using natural materials, recycled finds or traditional mediums in unexpected ways, I invite the viewer to take a closer look at their place in the world," she stated.

Lake County Wine Studio is a gallery for display and sale of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County. Artists' shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.
 
The gallery is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake and is open Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m., and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m.

The Kriken/Turcotte art exhibit will be on display through May 30.

For more information call Lake County Wine Studio at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752.