Visit Napa at night as you’ve never seen before
By Matt Larson
Brighten up your 2019 with the Napa Lighted Art Festival, a nine-day installation featuring art, after dark! Downtown Napa and the Oxbow District have some iconic architecture that is often appreciated during the day but, naturally, attracts much less attention at night. To change things up a bit in the most spectacular of ways, the City of Napa’s Parks & Rec department has brought in a variety of talented artists who will create art with light, using the buildings as their canvas.
“Everybody says they’re unique, but I really feel like this truly is unique,” said the city of Napa’s Recreation Supervisor Pete Hangen. “Unless you travel up to Seattle or go out to the east coast—nobody’s lighting up an entire city like we are.”
Last year was their first foray with nine artistically illuminated locations; this year they’ll have 15 locations at least. For the most part, last year’s artwork was in the form of projected light upon buildings, but that’s not all you’ll find at the festival. You’ll encounter some of the latest, most innovative techniques and technologies of using light as an artistic medium, complete with light art, video art, 3D video mapping projections, lighted sculptures and more.
It’s best to walk the tour, as driving by hardly affords the same experience. Many of the installations will have music or sounds, which someone may not hear from a vehicle, and several interactive pieces can only be experienced on foot. You’ll definitely want to park the car for the Museum of the Moon exhibit, which will be found at CIA at Copia’s amphitheater. Bring a blanket and a loved one, take a seat and be amazed at the full moon before you.
“It’s a scale replica of the moon,” Hangen said. With an approximate scale of about 1:500,000, each centimeter of the internally lit sphere represents 5 km. of the moon’s surface. Created by internationally renowned artist Luke Jerram, this touring art piece is placed on a 25-foot-wide inflatable canvas, using photos from NASA to make it as accurate as possible. “Us earthbound folks only get to see one side of the moon,” Hangen explained. “This way you’ll be able to walk around and see the backside of the moon, the top of it, and everything in between.”
Back by popular demand, you can again see Birgit Zander’s Language of Love, projected unto the First Presbyterian Church of Napa. Presented as a video projection last year, it has been reworked and refined to be even better this January. “It’s the word ‘love’ written in about 32 different languages projected on the church,” Hangen told us. “Zander has refreshed the art piece and added a soundtrack to go with it; it’ll be a little different, but that was definitely one of the highlights from last year.”
Some of the exhibits are interactive. Without spoiling too much, Hangen gave us an example. “One of the pieces we’re going to put up on the Napa Square building, right across from City Hall, reacts to people’s skin temperature,” he said. “So when you walk by a sensor, it’ll actually change the projection; people will be able to stand and move, maybe lift their arm, and something will happen because the exhibit is sensing the heat moving differently.”
With no admission fee whatsoever and nine optional days to attend, some people find themselves coming back again, even nightly, throughout the event. Hangen attended almost every day last year and found that coming back again and again afforded a much more varied experience than one might expect.
“I was out there eight of the nine nights,” he said. “You start seeing nuances within the art that you didn’t notice before. I think you can go and see these over and over again and you’ll see something different, just because there’s so much going on.”
In addition to the exhibits, you can also attend the Symposium Series, a variety of daytime and evening discussions on various topics (art, light, the technology of projected art, stained glass, etc.), with available food options as well.
Take a short stroll along the Vine Trail between Vallejo and Jackson streets for Art After Dark with RAD (Rails Art District), where you can see RAD’s six latest murals glowing in the night. “We went out there during the daylight and thought, ‘Oh, this is great.’ And then it gets dark, you turn some lights on, and the whole experience is different,” Hangen recalled. “You have a lot of darkness all around, and then you’ve got light reflecting off the mural, making it look like a different piece.”
For some even more special events to aim for during the nine-day fest, definitely plan to attend Night Bloom Saturdays and Sundays, Jan. 12-13th, 19-20th, at 7 p.m. Several tethered hot air balloons will light up the sky at Oxbow Commons, which no lighted art show should ever go without. Make sure to also mark the calendar for their Lantern Parade on Friday, January 18th, at 6:30 p.m. Starting and finishing at Veteran’s Park, the parade weaves through the various art installations. All ages are encouraged to participate by creating a lantern of their own, but please note: do not use fire of any kind for your lantern, only battery-operated lights.
Students from New Tech High School in Napa are also getting involved, working with projection artist Ross Ashton from the UK to create a lighted installation of their own. “He’s mentoring them through the process,” Hangen said. “They’re going to create a piece of artwork that will be on the Native Sons building.” Ashton did the projection on the Riverfront Building last year, and this year his work will be seen lighting up the Goodman Library.
All the displays are mapped out in close proximity. It doesn’t matter where you start but if you need a general game plan: head to The Silo, go down Main Street until you see the Riverfront Building, head up to the church, check out Native Sons, then loop back around to Blue Note and over to CIA. Here is a detailed list of all the places to check out; there’s something different at every site, and choosing your own adventure is really the way to go.
With a few more potential venues that are currently in discussion, the 15 locations that, at this writing, have already committed to being part of the lighted art installation include: Blue Note/Napa Valley Opera House (1030 Main St.), Riverfront Building (700 Main St.), CIA at Copia (outside in their back amphitheater) and the interior of CIA at Copia II (both at 500 Main St.), First Presbyterian Church (1333 3rd St.), Napa River Inn/Silo’s (500/530 Main St.), Napa Square (1455 1st St.), Native Sons Hall (937 Coombs St.), John Anthony Vineyards/York House (1005 Jefferson St.), Goodman Library (1219 1st St.), and Vintner’s Collective (1245 Main St.).
“We’ve got several pieces that I think are just going to wow people,” Hangen said. “The combination of beautiful artistry within the scale of a big huge building … you just don’t see that very often. For me, that’s part of the draw.” Not to mention plenty of food and drink to go around, some of which will hopefully be unique in following with the theme of the event.
Hangen’s favorite part of it all is seeing everyone’s reactions to all of the different art installations. “To see the look on their faces, hear the comments … it was just fun to see people come out and enjoy free art,” he said. It’s a free event! So you might as well check it out.
Attend the second-annual Napa Lighted Art Festival, January 12 through the 20th, 2019. Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday through Sunday from 6 to 10 p.m. For a full program and additional information, head to donapa.com/lights, or call Napa’s Public Art Division at (707) 257-9529.
Larson is an actor/comedian/director from Vallejo who lives a double life between the Bay and LA. When he’s not writing for Local Happenings Magazine he could be editing a short film or working on his next rap album—who knows!
Keep up with all things Larson at www.MarsLegstrong.com.”
