Mini Makeover

For more than six months, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art has been shuttered, a move necessitated by the mandated installation of an ADA-compliant elevator. The institution took advantage of the downtime to reconfigure its shop and admissions area and enlarge the theater upstairs — which will now be accessible to everyone via that new elevator.

The entryway changes were done by Rick Sommerfeld and his College of Architecture and Planning class at the University of Colorado Denver. Sommerfeld and his students not only designed a two-part constructivist wall, but they built it, too. And while the wall’s primary function is to separate the shop from the principal gallery, it’s also internally lit and studded with showcases.

The museum’s renovated interior was unveiled June 5 at the opening of Pure Pleasure. The exhibit, which continues through September 6, was organized by Joan Markowitz, BMoCA’s senior curator, and comprises pieces by contemporary artists from the area, including Phil Bender, Julie Blackmon, Deborah Dell, Rebecca DiDomenico, Ana Maria Hernando, Tsehai Johnson, Mark Sink & Kristin Hatgi, and Stacey Steers. Those chosen have little in common other than the connection indicated by the show’s title: Each artist creates work with an enjoyable visual punch, regardless of the specific narrative or conceptual underpinnings. The museum is at 1750 13th Street in Boulder; for more information, call 303-443-2122 or go to www.bmoca.org.
June 5-Sept. 6, 2009