Napa Valley Museum

Napa Valley photojournalist Tim Carl has captured the beauty and devastation of the wine country wildfires for several years, creating vivid portraits of communities under siege.

Now, the Napa Valley Museum has created a collection of Carl’s works to launch “Real/Time: Art of the Moment,” a new series of community-focused virtual exhibitions that will be viewable on the museum website.

“Tested by Fire, photographs and videos of Napa and Sonoma County wildfires by Napa Valley photographer Tim Carl” opens on Thursday, Sept. 24 and runs through March 29, 2021. With the sponsorship of Bank of America, the exhibition is free to the public.

“An exhibition on the wildfires – one of the topics on everyone’s mind at the moment—as captured in Tim Carl’s exceptionally vivid images and videos, seemed the perfect way to launch the series,” said museum director Laura Rafaty. “Our friends at Bank of America were incredibly generous in quickly responding to support the idea. We hope that this look at wildfires from 2017 to present will remind us of the resiliency of the valley, and of the transitory beauty of all that surrounds us.”

“Most of our time is spent rushing from this to that in a perpetual — often frantic — search for survival, comfort and meaning without stopping to witness the wonders around us. Photography slows down the rapid pace of life to a standstill, allowing us the opportunity to witness the beauty and awe-inspiring world at our feet,” said Carl, a Napa Valley native who traces his California grape-growing roots back to the mid-1800s.

Read the full article here.