Fine-heart displays

It’s time again for “Works From the Heart,” the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture’s annual contemporary art exhibition and auction. For 21 years, leading artists from throughout the region have donated original work to the museum’s fund-raising event for art acquisition. “I am constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of the artists,” says Ryan Hardesty, the museum’s interim curator of art and coordinator of the event. “This is my fourth year helping with the auction and it simply wouldn’t be possible without the artists.”

The exhibit portion of “Works From the Heart” opens with a free artists’ reception Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. in the museum’s Davenport Gallery.

Beginning Saturday, the show can be viewed during regular museum hours through March 10, with the auction on March 11.

“This year’s show is really strong,” says Sue Bradley, museum board president-elect.

There are 105 pieces of art including ceramics, photography, paintings, prints, jewelry, sculpture and glass. Styles range from realism to abstraction.

Among the more than 90 contributing artists are Alfredo Arreguin of Seattle and Ruben Trejo of Spokane. The two internationally exhibited artists were included in the two-year traveling exhibition “Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.”

Every inch of Arreguin’s painting “Frida Lupita” is loaded with luxurious, interlocking designs.

“Arreguin is known for his highly imaginative imagery, which often evokes a dreamlike world with spiritual qualities,” says Hardesty.

“When I look at Alfredo’s pattern paintings,” says Trejo, “I think of the Mayan tradition of putting colors together. All those vibrant colors and designs vie for your attention.”

In contrast to Arreguin’s intricately patterned canvas is the bold, minimalist “Benzieger Print” by Sol LeWitt of New York City and Connecticut.

This unexpected LeWitt woodblock print was donated to the auction by artist Bob Nugent of Santa Rosa, Calif.

The work of LeWitt, an American artist of international stature, has often been noted as a bridge between Minimalist and Conceptual art-making practices.

He began exhibiting his work in New York City in the early 1960s. In 2000, the San Francisco Museum of Art organized a retrospective which traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

If previous year’s auctions are any rule of thumb, works that are sure to attract a crowd include Harold Balazs’ 6-foot-2-inch wooden sculpture, the work on paper by Keiko Hara of Walla Walla, and the exotic intagilio with chine colle print by Yuji Hiratsuka of Corvallis, Ore.

Last year, five 2 1/2 -inch-square assemblage pins donated by Arlington, Wash., jewelry maker Kathryn Glowen were among the most fiercely contested items in the silent auction portion of the fund-raising event.

This year, Montana ceramist Josh DeWeese is donating a soda-fired stoneware vessel

“I try to make pieces that are comfortable to use, enjoyable to look at and interesting to think about,” says DeWeese, resident director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena.

Other veteran artists with pieces in the show include Palouse painter Heidi Oberheide; Patrick Siler of Pullman; Ross Coates and Marilyn Lysohir of Moscow; Lila Shaw Girvin, Pauline Haas, Shaw McCutcheon and Sister Paula Turnbull of Spokane; Jean Atwater of Bainbridge Island; James Todd of Missoula; and Mel McCuddin of Spokane Valley.

The auction

“Our goal for the ‘Works From the Heart’ auction is to exceed last year’s total of $38,000,” says Joyce Cameron, the museum’s director of development and communications.

“This really is our one big fabulous fund-raiser for art acquisition,” she says. “We expect a lot out of the event and, hopefully, we are going to sell out again this year.”

There are still a few auction tickets available at $75 per person ($60 for members). Tickets include a buffet dinner and live entertainment.

Doors open at 5 p.m. on March 11 for ticket holders to view the art one last time, bid on silent auction items and eat dinner. The silent auction closes at 6:45, with a live auction beginning at 7.

The majority of proceeds from the live and silent auctions, after expenses, will be used to acquire new art for the museum’s permanent collection. A portion of the money will go to art-related operating expenses, says Cameron.