Photographers, sculptors and even a surgeon will speak in Napa during the Oxbow School Spring 2008 Visiting Artist Lecture Series.

The six 90-minute lecture presentations at Copia are open to the public as well as to Oxbow students and faculty.

On Feb. 18, Marin County surgeon and author Leonard Shlain will deliver a slide show describing his current work-in-progress, “Leonardo’s Brain: The Left/Right Roots of Creativity.”

Shlain’s previous books, all bestsellers, include “Art and Physics,” “The Alphabet vs. the Goddess” and “Sex, Time, and Power.”

His new work has two stories to tell: the life and accomplishments of Leonardo da Vinci and the evolution of the human brain.

In a presentation packed with art images, the author will draw on both history and current neurocognitive research to reconstruct Leonardo’s brain.

Seattle sculptor Katy Stone will speak Feb. 25. Stone’s work combines drawing, painting and sculpture. She paints, cuts and layers transparent sheets of acetate to explore natural forms with manmade materials, as in her assemblage “Spiders and Lace” (2007).

Stone will remain in Napa for a 10-day residency at Oxbow School, working with the young students from around the country who attend the semester-long, residential fine arts program.

On March 10, photographer and filmmaker Ari Marcopoulos will speak and show his work. Born in the Netherlands, Marcopoulos now lives in Northern California. His work has been exhibited internationally, from the Whitney Biennial to Kunsthaus Zurich, and published in six monographs.

Marcopoulos’s film “Larry Wright” was broadcast as part of public television’s “P.O.V.” documentary series, while his “Key to the Riddle” was screened in New York during MOMA’s New Documentaries series. His current works-in-progress are a documentary on his friend Craig Kelly and a solo exhibition at MC Gallery in Los Angeles; he also has a new book called “The Chance Is Higher.”

Sculptor Alison Sarr is known for her use of folk objects and traditional images to address racial identity, homelessness and other aspects of contemporary society. Her work includes life-size sculptures and a series of portraits, on skillets and shovel blades, of African-American workers.

On March 17, the Los Angeles native will present a slide show and lecture that includes both early pieces and a preview of her commissioned sculpture of Harriet Tubman for the city of New York.

Photographer Dawoud Bey presents his Oxbow lecture March 31 and, like Stone, will remain in Napa for a 10-day teaching residency at the school.

A professor of photography at Columbia College in Chicago, Bey focuses his lens on teenagers: His large-scale color portraits aim to challenge our assumptions about young people. Bey himself was only 15 when he discovered the work of Harlem photographers such as James VanDerZee, who inspired him to begin making pictures.

Recently, Bey has begun to accompany his portraits with words from their young subjects. His works are in permanent collections in the U.S. and overseas.

The Oxbow lecture series wraps up April 14 with a talk by curator and art historian Larry Rinder, Dean of the College at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

While at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Rinder organized exhibitions including “The American Effect” and the 2002 Biennial.

Rinder has also served as assistant director and curator for 20th-century art at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. In 2005, he was appointed to the San Francisco Arts Commission by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

All of the Oxbow lectures take place on Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m., presented in partnership with Copia: The American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts and supported by a grant from the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. For more information, call 255-6000.

Oxbow School Spring 2008 Visiting Artist Lecture Series

Mondays, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Feb. 18: Leonard Shlain; Feb. 25, Katy Stone; March 10, Ari Marcopoulos; March 17, Alison Sarr; March 31, Dawoud Bey; April 14: Larry Rinder

Copia Auditorium, 500 First Street, Napa

Free admission

(707) 255-6000

www.oxbowschool.org