The store hired the Napa High School Jazz Band to perform at its gala Monday night. Today, the store has donated a $500 gift basket for a raffle benefiting the Napa Valley Opera House.

Opera House League members will be selling raffle tickets today near the entrance to Whole Foods. Tickets are $5 for one or $20 for five. The drawing will be held at 5 p.m. and contestants need not be present to win.

All raffle profits go directly to the Opera House.

   

Napa County artists are eligible to apply for grants from the Creative Work Fund, which has secured $755,000 in funding from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation. This significant increase from 2007 funding has enabled the group to increase its maximum award from $35,000 To $40,000. The fund will host several informational seminars for potential applicants, including one on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 6- 7:30 p.m. at Nimbus Arts, St. Helena Marketplace, Suite 1B, 3111 St. Helena Highway. To reserve a place at the seminar call (415) 402-2794.

The Napa County Historical Society hosts a murder mystery dinner fundraiser at the Goodman Library Building Saturday, Jan. 26, at 6 p.m. The evening includes a four-course Italian dinner from executive chef Karen Hadley and a 1920s gangster murder mystery presented by Gibson House Mystery Performers. 1920s costumes are encouraged and rewarded  Tickets are $100 for members, $150 for non-members. Call 224-1739 or e-mail director@napahistory.org. More info: www.napahisto ry.org. The Goodman Library is at 1219 First St.

Vintage Barbie dolls out to make a statement are scanned into cyberspace in Pear Tranter Jones’ colorful, surreal pieces in her new show “?Valentines?,” which opens this month at Artissimo Gallery in Napa.

The depictions turn the idealized Valentine, Barbie, into a woman in her own right as a counter culture to what Valentine’s Day has become, according to the artist.

Jones has art degrees from UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Art Institute. She has won several prizes and received a Fulbright Grant in visual arts to Italy. Her art has shown at museums including the De Young Museum. She lives in the North Bay.

The show opens with a champagne reception at Artissimo Gallery on Friday, Jan. 25 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through March 20. Artissimo is at 3373 Solano Ave. in Redwood Plaza. Info,  257-1889.

 

The Blue Heron Gallery in Yountville is now showing works  by photographer Eric Zachary Ryder, whose illuminated landscapes utilize a limited palette available in the near-infrared light spectrum. Ryder uses cameras modified to capture what the human eye is unable to see, which results in dreamlike images that differ based largely on the quality of light in the sky at the moment it is captured.

The Blue Heron Gallery is upstairs at V Marketplace in Yountville. Contact them directly at 944-2044 or visit Blue Heron Gallery at www.blueheronofnapa.com.