UPPER LAKE – The Lake County Wine Studio will host an open talk and discussion featuring the artwork of local bronze sculptor Rolf Kriken on Friday.

The discussion period will take place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, July 3, in advance of a wine and appetizer reception featuring Fore Family Vineyards, which takes place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Kriken is a Vietnam veteran who holds a master's degree in fine arts. He's worked as an artist, sculptor and foundryman.

He has been an instructor at the Richmond Art Center and director of the Berkeley Art Foundry. His career has featured more than 40 exhibitions, and numerous private, state, city and federal commissions.

He founded his Nordhammer Foundry in Kelseyville in 1979.

In 1984 he worked with Robert Graham on the statues of athletes that greeted visitors to the Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles.

Kriken created the three-dimensional, life-size sculptures and did the bronze fabrication and art work for the California Vietnam Memorial in Sacramento, dedicated in 1988.

In June, three of Kriken's large-as-life bronze statues were on display at The Moving Wall, a traveling Vietnam War memorial that visited the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.

Kriken's work will be on display at the Lake County Wine Studio through August.

The Lake County Wine Studio is located on the corner of First and Main streets is historical downtown Upper Lake, across from the Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon & Cafe.

For more information call Susan Feiler at 707-293-8752 or 707-275-8030.