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This year the art is back on the walls. The Museum of Northwest Art is holding its 29th auction next week, celebrating regional art, the museum’s 40th birthday and the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic. The physical experience will be integrated with the virtual one. Art enthusiasts can go to MoNA and browse through the art until the “First Forty | Next Forty Art Auction” opens for bidding June 10.

Since the museum’s first auction in 1992, it has been a premier regional art event, organizers say, bringing collectors and artists together each June. Paintings and sculptures from a four state area are exhibited and sold to raise funds for the Museum.

“For our 29th annual art auction we hope to bring the best auction experience you can have without a tent,” the museum announced. The focus is not only celebrating the past 40 years, but also looking forward to the next 40, says Meg Holgate, auction co-chair.

Holgate and her co-chair, Betsy Humphrey, have been organizing the auction since January. It includes 300 pieces of art, nearly 100 more than in 2020. “We are overwhelmed with the generosity of the artists. We have way more than we anticipated so this is a celebration with the artists and donors and everyone involved with the museum” Holgate says, “It feels so good as we are coming out of COVID.”

The virtual aspect also enables a reach to more people beyond the La Conner area, adds Humphrey. And leading up to June 10, Humphrey helped capture videos of the artists speaking about their work in the gallery which will be available to all who participate.

The artist representation includes some familiar names from the past, such as Clayton James, Ed Kamuda, Mark Tobey, Bill Cummings and Philip McCracken – all artists who date to the early years of the museum, as well as newer, fresh painters and sculptors, including Carly Brock, daughter of Joel Brock.

This year’s event will feature the Dunlap Family as honorary host as a tribute to the family’s contributions over its history. That support has spanned several generations beginning with James and Phyllis Dunlap. Phyllis was a member of the board of trustees until 1994. Daughter Gretchen McCauley followed the tradition, serving on the board for 17 years and her niece Meghan Dunlap Rise is a current MoNA board member. Dunlap Towing Company, now led by Jim, James and Phyllis’ son, has been a regular auction sponsor.

As she reviewed the display of work being installed in the gallery last week, McCauley says she was grateful both for the art itself and for seeing it on the walls for people to view. “It’s wonderful to have the museum open so people can go in and see what is going to be auctioned off. The artists’ work is magnificent and they’re generous to donate it,” she says.

The museum is also honoring Earlene Beckes with a trustee award for her support of auctions. “She’s worked tirelessly,” over about a decade, Holgate said, as a former chair of the auction, as well as serving in procurement.

The collection includes a wide diversity of arts and artists. “We want to support younger artists who are coming to the valley for the very same reasons the mystics came here,” says Holgate. And the auction also features work from different cultures. Artist Jay Bowen, of the Upper Skagit Tribe, for example has donated his own work which he calls a blend of cultures, using symbolism from his native background. He thinks of artists as expressionists. Their work he says “is their insights, in their medium. Its very personal but also very public. It bares their soul.” His work is also on display at FORUM Arts on First Street.

Many of those volunteering have also contributed their work, including Lucy Mae VanZanden, owner of Todd’s Monuments, former manager of Smith and Vallee Gallery and a stone sculptor. She has volunteered at MoNA auctions for about eight years, she estimates. In honor of the 40-year auction theme, she has contributed 40 heart stones. She sees a new generation of young art enthusiasts making their first art purchases this year, along with those whose homes and offices are already adorned with art. In either case, the experience of art contributes to the wellbeing of those who buy it, she points out. “Art becomes a part of your life when you take it home.”

The auction preview opened last Thursday. Silent bidding begins June 10, with the virtual live auction at 7 p.m. June 12. Final bidding is June 13.

MoNA houses the largest collection of Northwest art: more than 2,700 pieces.