Art of Renewal

By Olivia Boynton | Photos by Bob McClenahan

At the crossroads of technology, creativity, and innovation, the Napa Lighted Art Festival lit up the community on January 11–19. The City of Napa Parks and Recreation Department connected seven international artists, four domestic artists (two from Napa), art students from New Tech High School, and community members to celebrate the theme of Renew through art and light-based technologies.

Eleven art installations were seen throughout downtown and the Oxbow District, using the beauty of historic buildings as lightscapes. Installation sites included the Napa Opera House, Goodman Library, and the Napa Historic Court House, which has been under renovation since the 2014 earthquake. “Similar to many of the buildings that are installation sites for the festival, it is symbolic of our community’s resilience, our ability to rebuild and restore our spirit after great adversity and disruption,” says Meredith Nevard, public art coordinator for the Parks and Recreation Department, of the Court House site.

On January 17, the community united for a lantern parade, in which participants brought their own lantern creations and promenaded together through the streets, bobbing in luminescence. During weekend evenings, the Festival showcased Night Bloom, a hot air balloon show, which lit up the Oxbow District night sky.

Napa Parks and Recreation partnered with artist The Projection Studio and New Tech High School’s digital design lab students to create Elemental, a video mapping projection on the AT&T building. The Projection Studio mentored the students over Skype, helping them create a high-quality animation installation. Students’ artworks were displayed with the featured international and regional artists. Ten students from the class acquired their Adobe® Premiere certification based on software proficiency developed while working on the digital installation.

The Napa Lighted Art Festival 2020 ushered in the year with a sense of and lightheartedness, renewal, and joy.