PHOTOS: Inside Dallas Modern’s Annual Gala and Profit Public sale

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Ebony Lewis, Bobby Miller and Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart. Picture: Kaitlin Saragusa

On a latest balmy night time, Dallas’s see-and-be-seen set gathered within the industrial-style kunsthalle that’s Dallas Modern for the establishment’s annual gala and profit public sale. Offered by Headington Corporations and museum board president Ann McReynolds with John McReynolds, and arranged by co-chairs Shayna Fontana Horowitz, Peter Augustus Owens and Robyn Siegel, the glamorous, art-fueled occasion raised over $1 million—a testomony to the vital place the DC holds in Dallas’ scene.

A collection of Fontana Horowitz’s atmospheric nonetheless lifes projected on the partitions greeted gala-goers, who fueled up on hors d’oeuvres and specialty cocktails earlier than shifting into the public sale gallery to preview work by the night’s public sale artists: Chris Wolston, Ali Dipp, Katherine Bradford, Maria Haag, Willie Binnie and Xxavier Edward Carter. Noticed within the crowd have been philanthropist and collector Grace Prepare dinner, artisan and entrepreneur Rachel Bently, luxurious retail service provider Brian Bolke, collector and patron Marguerite Hoffman, artist Vicki Meek (former govt director of the Dallas Modern), The Energy Station founders Alden and Janelle Pinnell, museum director Jeremy Strick and varied gallerists and artwork lovers.

Lucia Simek addressing gala-goers. Picture: Chase Corridor

Fontana Horowitz’s last projection—a crystal bell—pulsed as chimes rang all through the museum, signaling the beginning of dinner. Tables have been set in “You Stretched Diagonally Throughout It: Modern Tapestry,” DC’s spring 2025 exhibition visitor curated by Su Wu, with centerpieces part-victual, part-bouquet: an suave collision of moss, sweetgrass, pomegranates and cherry tomatoes. Christina Forrer’s Untitled (on brown background), on mortgage from Hoffman’s assortment, wafted above the group, complementing works by Mika Tajima, Marie Hazard and others on the partitions.

Between bites of Sassetta’s black pepper Parmesan panna cotta and Joule’s Texas wagyu brief rib, benefactors loved a runway of scholars from Booker T. Washington Faculty for the Performing Arts modeling authentic designs by Caroline Correa, Kathleen Cusick, Skylar O’Hara, Lily Wilkinson, Maude Williams, Emmanuel Gillespie and artist Sai Sankoh. On the dais, Dallas Modern govt director Lucia Simek thanked supporters, declaring that, “it’s the mandatory collaboration” that makes every year’s gala “so significant.” Christian Vasquez screened a brief movie that includes Meek, Wu, Simek and writer Deep Vellum’s Will Evans, amongst others. Capping off the night was the reside public sale, led by Christie’s Brett Sherlock, who had the dignity of saying the Eugene McDermott Basis’s reward of $100,000 to fund free museum admission by way of 2026. A shock donation from painter Francisco Moreno (who will mount a solo exhibition at Dallas Modern in spring 2026) stored bidders on their toes.

As all the time, the gala spilled into the night time with an afterparty hosted by soon-to-open hi-fi bar Shyboy. Mates of the museum danced to units spun by New York DJ GE-OLOGY, alternating between sipping signature highballs and cooling off with gentle serve ice cream on what was a near-perfect night time.