Local artists will be peddling their wares this weekend to raise money for local environmental conservation projects.

Dozens of artists will gather at UCSB’s Sedgwick Ranch Reserve in the Santa Ynez Valley on Oct. 19 and 20 for a benefit show hosted by Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment (SCAPE). The show will begin with a wine and hors d’oeuvres party on Saturday and a public art show Sunday afternoon.

SCAPE is a relatively new group committed to raising money for environmental causes through shows exhibiting art by local artists. Almost 100 paintings will be on sale this weekend and 50 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Sedgwick.

“It is nice to be able to put my artwork up for sale and benefit Sedgwick at the same time,” SCAPE artist Barbara McIntyre said. “As an artist, it’s an opportunity for people to see my work along with other landscape artists.”

Sedgwick Ranch Reserve is one of six habitats in UCSB’s Natural Reserve System. The university began acquiring the sites 30 years ago for research, instruction and preservation.

The facilities at Sedgwick provide the university with outdoor laboratories and classrooms for long-term research in a protected ecosystem. The reserve also sponsors a community outreach program aimed at teaching elementary students about local plants and animals.

“Sedgwick is a wonderful place. [It’s] such a refuge from the city, and their education outreach program is good,” said UCSB alumnus Susan Belloni, co-chair of the Sedgwick show. “I think that we need to learn to see land as a community to which we belong, rather than a commodity we belong to.”

Aside from providing financial support to the reserve, SCAPE hopes to promote the artistic beauty of the natural land.

“On one hand, it provides a way to create artwork that someone gets to see forever, and on the other hand there is the financial benefit,” artist Marcia Burtt said.