LA CONNER, WA.- Spring 2026 marks the launch of an exciting selection of fresh programs at the Museum of Northwest Art, highlighted by a deep look into the storied career of one of the Pacific Northwest’s most innovative artists, Nancy Mee, alongside a continued examination of the museum’s rich collection in At the Seam. Chronicling nearly half a century of Mee’s career, Femina Lucida: The Art of Nancy Mee explores a variety of innovative approaches to glass, sculpture, and installation, and examines deeply human concerns including the body, health, autonomy, beauty, and how both art history and science have shaped how we see ourselves.

Femina Lucida: The Art of Nancy Mee January 24 - May 10, 2026

Femina Lucida: The Art of Nancy Mee is the first major museum survey of Mee’s life work. The exhibition documents the variety of material approaches used by the artist over five decades of her career to interrogate both the personal and cultural construct of the female body. Known for her use of readymade sheets of clear glass, Mee slumps, laminates, stacks, splinters, and layers the glass medium to both explore and celebrate the image of the female body.

Curated by Matthew Kangas, Femina Lucida features Mee’s early works which reveal the artist’s obsession with bodily deformity and “normal” anatomy inspired by her access to unsettling medical records (often grotesque photographs and x-rays) of spinal disorders like scoliosis in adolescent girls.

Chiefly using the female figure, Nancy Mee alters the monumental character of Classical Greek and Roman statuary by sandblasting flattened photographic reproductions onto sheets of glass. She compresses and abbreviates the originals to serve her purpose: examining how women’s bodies are perceived through distortion and idealization.

The evolution of Mee’s themes has spanned nearly fifty years, enriching the contemporary art tradition in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Her work fascinates through its continual self-renewal and its ability to remain startlingly original while also appealing and unsettling.

At the Seam: The Museum of Northwest Art's Permanent Collection

At the Seam: The Museum of Northwest Art’s Permanent Collection is an ongoing engagement with the collection as the place of contact of the many artistic identities of the region. The exhibition asks to look not only at the individual works but also at the ‘seams,’ where works representing different artistic trends and cultural identities come in touch with each other. When they come in contact with each other, these works tell stories of coexistence, contrast, and difference within the social fabric of the Northwest region, past and present.

The artwork featured in this exhibition will progressively change throughout the year, providing insight on the breadth of the collection and highlight its role as a reflection of and resource for the Northwest community.

MoNA’s collection is a living, growing body of work. The upcoming installation of At the Seam will feature long held treasures from the museum’s collection alongside several new acquisitions that have just been brought into the collection over the past year, including work by Northwest master Jacob Lawrence, and a selection of new glass by Weston Lambert, Susan Point, Dick Weiss, Kazuo Kadonaga, Mark Zirpel, and more.

Outside In Gallery — Behind the Curtain: 100 Years at the Historic Lincoln Theatre
For the past 100 years, the Lincoln Theatre has been a vital cultural hub for Mount Vernon and the greater Skagit Valley. Built in 1926, the historic theatre began as a vaudeville and silent film house and has grown into a venue for concerts, films, plays, and community events.

Through a variety of interactive displays, including photographs, audio, and physical models, Behind the Curtain: 100 Years at the Historic Lincoln Theatre invites visitors of all ages to discover and delve into the different forms of art showcased at the theatre over the years, exploring the expansive history, the current moment, and the potential future of the Lincoln Theatre.