SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. — As if the wonders of nature were not intriguing enough, imagine a collection of majestic giant bamboo bird sculptures set among a host of Asian and California native plants to add to the enticement. The Sonoma Botanical Gardens has just such an exhibit, “Winged Wonders,” that includes 13 birds, all super-sized and native to California, on display now through the end of October.
At each sculpture is a QR code that provides additional information about the bird as well as the bird’s call, Kristina Lindh, coordinator of marketing and communications, said.
Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein, the Boston-based couple who call themselves “The Myth Makers,” installed 13 bamboo bird sculptures throughout the garden. They built some of the pieces during a three-week residency there.
The artists first visited the garden in advance of their residency to walk the paths and trails and experience the site. This informed them about what birds are found there and where they would plan to place the sculptures.
An oversized acorn woodpecker with a 20-foot wingspan, for example, is placed between oak trees as if it is soaring above the path. A great blue heron stands in a pond as if “it is protecting the pond,” Lindh said, adding, “I love the contrast of the bamboo and the greenery.”
“Birds are just so magical, and Sonoma Botanical Gardens has real moments of magic in the garden” — Donna Dodson
The sculptures blend into the environment in unexpected places, Dodson said. Wind and light go through the open-weave structures, which have “an ephemeral presence.”
Most of the pieces — such as the western meadowlark, western bluebird and hummingbird — were shipped to the gardens on a flatbed The three owls and two quail were built onsite, Lindh said.
Moerlein said the whole process of designing and building the sculptures took about 18 months, using “many, many bundles” of split and solid bamboo poles for the on-site work.
The colossal owls are located next to the administration building where Lindh and others work, allowing them to observe visitors enjoy the sculptures, which have “child-scale” entrances to make them interactive, Moerlein said.
Originally the couple planned for two owls, but as the sun was “pretending to be done” and they were tucked into their cabana, Dodson said the idea of building a third owl came to them.
Fascinated by birds, they consider themselves bird enthusiasts — not experts — and believe everyone has a bird story. People are either horrified or enchanted or consider birds to be magical or demonic, Dodson said. It was important to the artists to build only birds that are native to California.
“You wouldn’t want to build a parrot in Alaska,” she added.
“Birds are just so magical, and Sonoma Botanical Gardens has real moments of magic in the garden,” Dodson said. “Our goal was to bring those things together.”
The artists belong to the American Bamboo Society, which is where they learned how to grow and work with bamboo. Though they grow a small amount of bamboo in their yard, they source the majority from a small network of growers, mostly in Virginia and Georgia, and haul it back to their warehouse in Boston.
The couple say they try to leave a “small global footprint,” which is one reason they enjoy working with bamboo. It is lightweight and will break down naturally, but this exhibit, which is the largest installation for The Myth Makers, will build “a memory that lasts a lifetime,” Moerlein said.
Dodson said she is a Southern California girl who had a great-aunt who lived in Fairfield. She spent time visiting redwood groves.
“There is a lot of meaning for me to be back working in California,” she said.
Sonoma Botanical Gardens was established in 1987 by Jane Davenport Jansen who began collecting seeds on expeditions to Asia. It has some 20,000 individual plants that represent about 1,500 different species and now include native plants. The focus to include California natives began in 2021 — when the name was changed from Quarryhill Botanical Gardens — though oak woodlands and chaparral were always present in the garden.
Some of the Asian plants found in the garden include about 50 species of magnolias, 35 species of wild roses and more than 60 species of rhododendrons.
The garden, which is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May through October, holds “Acoustic Sunset” concerts every Wednesday through the end of October. In the outdoor amphitheater a pair of cedar waxwing bamboo sculptures frame the stage area. The concerts, which are included with the purchase of entry, feature a local winery pouring sips of their wines.
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Anne Ward Ernst is a journalist who loves covering Northern California.
Editor’s Note: The Makers is a series from Sonoma County Features that profiles the people behind the region’s most dedicated food, wine and craft endeavors — not as brands, but as hands-on stewards of technique, care and community.
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