His work, The Missing Link, is among 35 pieces being exhibited in the 1.5km sculpture trail through Rippon Vineyard from today until May 1.
Mr Woolridge (51) trained as a stonemason in the limestone-rich Cotswolds of England, where he grew up.
He has lived in Arrowtown for 17 years and now uses Queenstown schist and Glenorchy slate.
After completing several commissions in recent years, Mr Woolridge believes full-time sculpting is "just a matter of time".
But first he must make his stone cylinder, on site at the vineyard.
The installation has its challenges.
"The thing is, it is stone and with stone comes problems of transport. These are temporary sculptures and we need to dismantle them. I can't transport this as a finished piece, because it weighs two tonnes. In a sense, this has limited people working with stone sculptures, so I am trying to push the engineering," he said.
Mr Woolridge has prepared a looped metal frame in the style of a large shipping chain link, which will be completely hidden once he has finished threading it through dozens of stones.
Each stone was hand-picked, hammered out, ground into shape and cut into wedges to go around the loop, but only a few have been assigned an exact place in the sequence.
"All the bottom ones are numbered but the top can be done by feel. I like to do it by feel. It means it is less mechanical," he said.
A smaller piece, one-third the scale, has been made in 100-year-old roofing slate and will be exhibited at the exhibition opening in Rippon Hall this weekend.
Sculpture in Central Otago has been curated by Gallery Thirtythree co-owner Peter Gregg.
He and his partner Norma Dutt have been running the event since 2004, first at Olssen's vineyard at Bannockburn as a commercial venture, and since 2009 at Rippon Vineyard, through the Wanaka Arts Charitable Trust.
The trust promotes sculpture and fine art in the region and pieces by prominent New Zealand sculptors Paul Dibble, of Auckland, and Bing Dawe, of Christchurch, are among those being exhibited. The trust also wants to encourage new artists, bring good art to the area and provide an education experience for schools, Mr Gregg said.
"I think the big thing for us is we have a lot of new artists to this event. Shane is a perfect example - and he's local," Mr Gregg said.
The trail opens tonight with a preview and a dinner with the artists. Christchurch Art Gallery curator Felicity Millburn and artist Graeme Sydney will be guest speakers.
Opening weekend activities start at 10am tomorrow and include music and wine tasting.
Otago exhibitors include Julie Butler, Philip Jarvis and Hamish Jones, of Dunedin; Mark Hill, of Arrowtown; and Martin Hill and Ernie Maluschnig, of Wanaka.
