Innovative Exhibition Rethinks the Traditional Gallery Space
Local and Internationally Acclaimed Artist Arleene Correa Valencia is Inaugural Featured Artist
We are pleased to announces a new art project. — the Oxbow Lightscapes Project, an art installation using the market as both inspiration and backdrop.
The Oxbow Lightscapes Project creates an unconventional gallery space for commissioned works by local artists. With light as the medium, the project rethinks where art can be displayed while simultaneously bringing illumination to the Oxbow Public Market in a surprising way.
The inaugural Oxbow Lightscapes exhibition for 2025 features Napa-based artist Arleene Correa Valencia’s work projected via gobos onto the market’s floors and tenant business screens when some of the businesses are closed.
Selected for her ability to distill complex ideas in a graphic way and represent Napa Valley’s multifaceted community, Correa Valencia’s work shares her experience of being an immigrant, the child of immigrants, and a Napa resident for the last 27 years. She approached this project as, “a subtle and poetic opportunity to share, with those who visit us from all over the world, a deeper understanding of what our makes our community so welcoming and special.” For this work, Correa Valencia incorporated the figures of many of the staff working at the Oxbow Public Market businesses throughout the installation.
“The inspiration for this project came from theatrical design in which lighting and gobos are used to create a mood, a scene, and depth to the stage,” said Oxbow Public Market property manager Gabe Carlin. “We support local art throughout the market and realized we had the opportunity to utilize the drawn screens and floors of the market as a blank canvas to say something important.”
Some pieces of the installation are only revealed when some of the Oxbow Public Market tenants are closed adding to the sense of whimsy and discovery. The inaugural exhibition will remain throughout 2025. The Oxbow Public Market worked with art consultant Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisors to realize this project.