‘Art from the Heart’ auction at Sonoma State University marks 40th year

“Art from the Heart,” the Sonoma State University Art Gallery’s annual fundraiser, celebrates its 40th anniversary next month with a benefit auction of artwork donated by artists from the Bay Area and beyond.

The auction will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, in the University Art Gallery on campus, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park.

The featured pieces will be on exhibition in advance at the gallery for preview and pre-sale bids from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 31 through Feb. 2.

One of the many items up for auction this year is an acrylic portrait on canvas of a woman by the late Jack Stuppin, the Sonoma County landscape painter, arts advocate and Sonoma State University supporter who died in 2022, said the artist’s widow, Diane Stuppin.

“He was a big fundraiser for Green Music Center,” the main concert venue on campus and home to the Santa Rosa Symphony, she said.

Among the more than 100 artists featured in this year’s auction are works by:

● Los Angeles-based artist Mineko Grimmer, whose work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the High Museum of Art;

● Printmaker Shane Weare, whose prints are in collections at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Brooklyn Museum;

● Bay Area painter Mark Perlman, Sonoma State University studio art professor emeritus, whose encaustic paintings are in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., among other collections nationwide.

● Two artists exhibited in the recent de Young Open Exhibition: Patrice Wachs and Eileen Parent, Sonoma State University art studio lecturer and bachelor of fine arts alumna.

Funds raised by “Art from the Heart” enable the gallery to bring art exhibitions and lecturers to the public and serve as a training space for student interns.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On X @danarts.