It is difficult to justify caring about contemporary art when your current interior design aesthetic is defined by blank walls and a broken dishwasher that your landlord still has not dropped by to fix. When deadlines are mounting and cultivating a sense of domestic permanence is somehow still a work in progress, an art auction feels like something for people with better credit scores and functional appliances.
Steven Frost’s “Abbotsford Garden (Melbourne, VIC),” a textile work made with acrylic, Australian merino, mushroom-dyed Booroola merino and raw denim, is included in BMoCA’s 2026 ARTMIX auction. (Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art/Courtesy photo)
But that is exactly why the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s Artmix exists. The museum is betting that eventually, you are going to want something on those walls. And when that day comes, you might as well buy something that keeps a local artist in business rather than a mass-produced canvas of a highland cow from Target.
On May 8, you can do exactly that, provided you have set aside a bit of your paycheck. With tickets starting at $150 for members, $175 for general admission, Artmix is a beloved annual fundraiser that serves as a rare bridge between two worlds. It is the one night of the year at BMoCA where Boulder’s seasoned collectors mingle with first-time buyers who are finally ready to dispose of their thumb-tacked posters and make their first real foray into art collecting.
Artmix has been a fixture on Boulder’s arts calendar for more than 20 years. The event began as a way to celebrate the museum’s exhibitions and education programs while raising money to support them. Over time, it has grown into BMoCA’s most important fundraiser of the year and a fast-moving evening built around food, drinks, music and a curated silent auction featuring work by 100 regional artists.
For guests who want first pick, VIP tickets offer a head start. The VIP preview begins at 5 p.m. May 8 and includes early access to the exhibitions, a champagne reception, a guided tour and the first opportunity to purchase artwork through the “Buy It Now” option before the party opens to the general public. At 6 p.m., the broader crowd arrives for the auction and party, where all of the artwork is open for bidding. Bidding closes at 8 p.m., art pickup begins at 8:30 p.m. and the event ends at 9 p.m.
“The night goes very fast,” said David Dadone, BMoCA’s executive director and chief curator. “You have two-and-a-half hours to look at everything, mingle with friends, socialize, buy your art, and that’s it.”
Tickets are $300 for the VIP preview and party, $175 for general admission and $150 for BMoCA members.
This year’s 100 artists were selected through a staff co-curation process, drawing from BMoCA’s existing relationships across exhibitions, public programs and education initiatives in Boulder and the Denver metro area. Sara Pike, who manages sponsorships and development at BMoCA, said the selection process has changed over the years depending on whether the museum has had an in-house curator or a curatorial team leading the effort. For the past two years, the process has pulled more broadly from staff members who work with artists across the museum’s programs.
“This is kind of a who’s who of BMoCA coming together for ARTMIX,” Pike said. “So a wide range of people, emerging artists, well-established artists, people working in all mediums, all themes, all sizes.”
Dadone said that the range includes artists with long histories at the museum as well as artists who are newer to the area and want to take part in one of BMoCA’s biggest nights of the year. The goal, he said, is to offer work across mediums, sizes and prices, since not every buyer is shopping for a 6-foot painting and not every wall can accommodate one.
Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco’s “Helen After Troy,” an archival digital print, is among the works included in BMoCA’s 2026 ARTMIX auction. (Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art/Courtesy photo)
Guests can expect to bid on works from artists like Sherry Wiggins, a Boulder interdisciplinary artist whose work has long engaged feminist, relational and performative processes. Wiggins and collaborator Luís Branco are represented in the auction by an archival digital print titled “Helen After Troy.” Also included is Steven Frost, a Boulder-based interdisciplinary fiber artist and CU Boulder faculty member who has previously had solo and two-person exhibitions at BMoCA. Frost’s “Abbotsford Garden (Melbourne, VIC)” is a textile work made with acrylic, Australian merino, mushroom-dyed Booroola merino and raw denim. The auction also includes work by artists such as Tony Ortega, Jordan Wolfson, Anna Kaye, Trine Bumiller, and Homare Ikeda, providing the auction with a mix of painting, photography, ceramics, fiber, sculpture and works on paper.
The price range reflects that variety, with works this year starting around $250 and reaching roughly $10,000, with many pieces falling somewhere between $1,000 and $2,500. Artists set the value of their own work, which means the auction reflects a wide cross-section of the regional art market rather than a single institutional price point.
That matters for buyers who may be testing the waters. Pike said Artmix draws a mix of repeat collectors and first-time museumgoers, including people who arrive with no serious collecting history and leave with a piece of art.
“We have our repeat customers who come every year, and most years, they’re buying art,” Pike said. “They’re collectors. They look forward to this so they can find new work for themselves.”
At the same time, she said, new audience members come each year, sometimes walking into the museum for the first time and walking out with artwork.
Many of the participating artists will attend the event in person, which gives Artmix a different texture than browsing a gallery, scrolling through an online preview or reading a wall label with a plastic cup of wine in hand. Buyers can meet the person behind the piece, ask about process and materials, and hear directly from the artist before deciding whether something belongs above the couch, in the hallway or in the one patch of wall that has survived the landlord era.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to meet potential buyers and stand near their artwork and share a little bit more directly with people who are curious about the piece that they put in the show,” Pike said.
For those who want to do some homework before the event, BMoCA has an online preview of nearly 70 works on its website at bmoca.org/artmix, with more images being added as pieces arrive at the museum. Some works come in only a few days before the auction, so the full selection will continue to take shape in the days leading up to May 8.
Among the artists showing work this year is Donald Fodness, a Denver-based artist whose interdisciplinary practice spans drawing, sculpture, furniture and installation. He has shown his work at BMoCA, the Denver Art Museum and internationally, and has taught at the University of Colorado Boulder, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and the University of Denver.
For Artmix, Fodness is bringing a drawing titled “Dab Dood (Stares Out a Lipstick Window and Smiles).” The piece incorporates found and collaged source material, gold leaf, spray paint and blue tape alongside more traditional drawing materials. The piece folds grocery store meat advertisements together with cartoony faces and floral imagery, a combination that fits Fodness’ description of his work as “somewhere between funny and grotesque.”
Fodness said he chose a drawing partly because a two-dimensional work is easier for someone to collect than a large sculpture or installation. His drawings often begin with existing images or found material, then build from there.
“My work, in general, really responds to existing things or source material,” Fodness added. “I don’t really like a blank piece of paper. I like to respond to something that already exists, that already has cultural content.”
For this piece, he said, he found collage material, projected it onto paper and began responding to the shapes and forms he saw. Once he started drawing, he began responding to his own imagery, creating what he described as a feedback loop or a kind of call and response.
“I think my work is for the right person,” he said, “so hopefully the right person finds it.”
Donald Fodness’ “Dab Dude Stares Out a Lipstick Window and Smiles” is among the works included in BMoCA’s 2026 ARTMIX auction. (Donald Fodness/Courtesy photo)
For Fodness, ARTMIX offers a looser and more social setting than a traditional gallery show. He has participated in auction-style events before and said they can feel less pressured than solo or gallery exhibitions because the emphasis falls on the gathering itself, with artists, collectors, museum supporters and new buyers sharing the same room.
“It’s a fun way to mix different cross-sections of the art community,” Fodness said. “The museum is an important part of the ecosystem of the art community, and it brings together a variety of different types of people that might not normally interface with each other.”
That mix is central to the fundraiser’s purpose, as proceeds from Artmix support two main areas of BMoCA’s work. The first is the museum’s exhibition program, which includes spring, summer and fall exhibitions at its flagship building in downtown Boulder. Dadone said that funding helps cover artist honorariums, shipping costs, installation expenses and, in some cases, travel and housing for visiting artists.
The second area is arts education. BMoCA runs seven youth education programs, along with programming for people with memory loss. In 2025, Pike said, those arts education programs served more than 8,000 people of all ages at no cost. The museum brings art experiences to schools, senior centers and libraries in Boulder and across the Denver metro area.
A portion of each artwork sale also goes directly to the artist.
“This event not only raises funds for the museum and education and exhibition programs, but also raises money for the artists,” Dadone said. “We do this event having in mind that the artists need to make a living and need to support themselves.”
The evening will include catering by Lafayette-based The Butcher & The Blonde, along with florals by Boulder Blooms to welcome spring.
Artmix takes place May 8 at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St. in downtown Boulder. The VIP preview runs from 5 to 6 p.m., with the auction and party from 6 to 9 p.m. Bidding closes at 8 p.m., and art pickup begins at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are available at bmoca.org/artmix/artmix-2026.
“It is always a great party,” Dadone said, “and it’s the best place to buy art.”
Donald Fodness, left, a guest curator with Tobias Fike, right, for the current exhibit at BMoCA, “Yes &…” discusses the works at the museum on Jan. 29, 2026. Fodness is a Denver-based artist who will have art up for bids at Artmix in Boulder. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
Tony Ortega will have art up for bids at BMoCA’s Artmix on May 8. (Tony Ortega/Courtesy photo)
Guests gather outside Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art during a previous ARTMIX event. The museum’s signature art auction fundraiser returns May 8. (Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art/Courtesy photo)
Guests pose for a photo during a previous Artmix event at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum’s annual art auction fundraiser returns May 8 with works by 100 regional artists. (Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art/Courtesy photo)
Artist Tobias Fike walks by the work of Sherry Wiggins at the “Performing Self” exhibition at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art on Feb. 1. The museum is hosting its annual fundraiser, Artmix, on May 8. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
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Donald Fodness, left, a guest curator with Tobias Fike, right, for the current exhibit at BMoCA, “Yes &…” discusses the works at the museum on Jan. 29, 2026. Fodness is a Denver-based artist who will have art up for bids at Artmix in Boulder. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)