Sensorio Still Stuns, with New Exhibits and an Outdoor Theater

Sensorio — the light-tastic, night-tastic Paso Robles field of dreams attraction — has some striking new exhibits since my last visit, in addition to an outdoor amphitheater in the main lawn area. 

Most of the solar-powered, nighttime-only attractions don’t come alive until the sun goes down, which is later in the summer, so we started our evening on the lawn (conveniently near the entryway) with dinner, drinks, and live music from the indie duo B & The Hive, who performed mostly pop rock covers that showcased the awesome pipes of Brianna Lee. With a full bar and food options including burgers, pizza, salads, and desserts, you can order from a QR code at your table, it’s easy to settle in and enjoy the sunset concert.

Although the band continued to play all night, as soon as the sun dimmed we were off to explore Sensorio’s flagship exhibition, Bruce Munro’s Field of Light. Designed to enhance the natural topography of the rolling hills with a colorful array of almost 60,000 stemmed spheres lit by fiber optics that gently illuminate the landscape (even though I’ve seen the original exhibit at least half a dozen times), it’s still a sensory thrill to stroll through this property surrounded by stunning light blooms of morphing color.

Sensorio’s ‘Field of Light’ by Bruce Munro | Photo: Serena Munro

That exhibit, which debuted in 2019 as a temporary installation, is now a permanent one, and remains the centerpiece of Sensorio, as the venue has grown into a 35-acre art park. Another Munro exhibit, Light Towers, which I had also seen when it opened in 2021, is a nod to wine country, with 69 glowing optic towers composed of more than 17,000 wine bottles. Each tower holds more than 200 bottles, with the colors of the lights shifting in time to a score that brings in music from many nations. 

Gone Fishing has 30 arrays of multicolored fishing rods, threaded with fiber optics meant to evoke the act of standing by a stream and reflecting on the world. Opening in 2023, this exhibit was also designed by Munro, who said of the installation: “To me, fishing has always conjured up the notion of removing oneself from the here and now to a place of peace and reflection.”

In the hills just above Gone Fishing is another 2023 installation by Munro called Fireflies, which is made up of nearly 10,000 points of white light that float and sway organically on optical fibers in the breeze. The movement reminded me a little bit of jellyfish and the purely white lights of this one make a nice contrast to the other colorful light exhibits around Sensorio. 

We made our way through a path by “Woven Glow,” Sensorio’s first original, in-house light sculpture, inspired by the art of weaving and the natural contours of Paso Robles. I was particularly charmed by a new-to-me exhibit, Dimensions by HYBYCOZO, the collaborative studio of artists Serge Beaulieu and Yelena Filipchuk, who worked with globally renowned musician Allen Hulsey to create the musical soundtrack for the 33-minute musical score, played primarily on the kanun — a large zither with a thin trapezoidal soundboard known for having a particularly melodramatic sound. 

This is a lovely spot to grab a drink and pull up a chair to the fire pits and take in this immersive audiovisual experience of large-scale metal sculptures that explore the relationship between light and music, shadow and pattern, environment and form, creating gorgeous macrame-like patterns of light on the ground surrounding the sculptures. Once you take in the wide view, it’s great fun to go down into the installation and play with the many spinning interactive elements and see how their shadows become a part of the art as they move through the space.

“Dimensions was created to transport visitors to another world,” said the artists, who describe it as ​“a place that transcends time and space by connecting the universal languages of geometry, light and music together.” 

The newest exhibit, which opened in April of this year, is called FOSO (Fiber Optic Symphonic Orchestra). A particularly fabulous merging of music and light art, FOSO, the fifth Sensorio exhibit designed by Munro, features 32 state-of-the-art columns of light set in a rotary structure and synchronized to a musical score, creating the experience of an orchestra playing both amid the lights and playing the lights themselves.

Guests sit at cocktail tables immersed in the exhibit, as each instrument plays and draws your attention in different directions throughout the performance, making for an immersive experience that made me think of the Disney animation in Fantasia — high praise, given that this is one of my favorite movies of all-time. 

While we intended to leave early to hit the road back to Santa Barbara, we spent more than three hours at Sensorio and could have easily stayed longer if it weren’t almost closing time, which is 10:30 p.m. this month. Hours vary according to the season, but Sensorio is open year round. For more information, see sensoriopaso.com.