Visual Arts

Art Smart

Embracing Our Differences Announces Its 2025 Outdoor Art Exhibition Locations and Top Winners

This year's exhibit kicks off Jan. 19 in Sarasota's Bayfront Park and also returns to St. Petersburg in March.

12/09/2024 By Staff

Get Creative

12 Local Arts Activities Kids Will Love

Your little ones can channel their inner artists at these spots, with offerings from glass-blowing to theater to robot building.

12/02/2024 By Kim Doleatto

Start Spreading the News

The Best Shows, Exhibits, Talks and Performances Coming to Sarasota This Season

We’re in for another stellar arts season. Here are some of the shows and events we’re most jazzed about.

11/21/2024 By Kay Kipling

Smallville

Browse Art That's 'Small Enough to Steal' at Sarasota's 502 Gallery

Sarasota Magazine creative director Gigi Ortwein is among the artists whose work is being featured.

11/13/2024 By Lauren Jackson

Election 2024

Who Designed Our Cute 'I Voted' Stickers?

Sarasota and Manatee counties both held student design contests. You'll see the winning stickers when you go to the polls.

11/05/2024 By Megan McDonald

Chalk Walk

The Sarasota International Chalk Festival Returns in November

Despite hurricanes and other hurdles, the visual arts show goes on.

10/31/2024 By Kay Kipling

I Want You to Know My Story

A New Show at The Ringling Features Jess T. Dugan's Striking, Intimate Photo Portraits

The work 'hinges on me and my subject having an emotional experience together, and it works best in the quiet and private,' says Dugan.

08/27/2024 By Andrea González

Pedal Power

The Late Dr. Nik's Whimsical Bikes Have Been Saved from the Scrap Heap

A friend of the beloved local artist, who died in April, spotted the bikes on a flatbed trailer headed for the junkyard. The WSLR+ Fogartyville community rallied to save them.

08/23/2024 By Megan McDonald

Preview

Portraits by Jess T. Dugan Featured in New Photography Exhibition at The Ringling

Grounded in their own experience as a queer, nonbinary person, Dugan’s work reflects the ways our identities are shaped by experiences of intimacy, desire and companionship. 

08/21/2024 By Staff

Under the Sea

Meet the Woman Behind Downtown Sarasota’s Mermaid Fountain

Nancy Goodheart Matthews' iconic fountain is included in the Smithsonian Institution's registry of public art. The City of Sarasota will celebrate the recognition with a gathering on Friday, Sept. 13.

07/30/2024 By Megan McDonald

Preview

A New Ringling Exhibit Highlights Women Ceramicists from Japan

"Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan" is on view through May 2025.

07/29/2024 By Staff

Preview

Selby Gardens' New Florida Highwaymen Exhibit Opens Tomorrow

The Highwaymen were a group of Black artists who produced colorful paintings of Florida landscapes despite being denied representation by galleries due to the color of their skin.

07/19/2024 By Megan McDonald

Nature Calls

Check Out the Winners of the Conservation Foundation's Summer Photo Contest

Photographers of all ages and experience levels were invited to submit original work showcasing the beauty of natural Florida.

07/08/2024 By Staff

Florida Art

Florida Highwaymen Exhibit at City Hall Gets Extended, Updated

The exhibit of Jim Crow-era artwork at City Hall in downtown Sarasota kicked off in January, but due to popularity, will be refreshed today with new paintings and extended for six more months. It's open to the public and free.

06/27/2024 By Kim Doleatto

Spinning Plates

A New Commission at Sarasota Art Museum Explores Our Shared Aesthetics

Molly Hatch's installation, "Amalgam," consists of more than 480 hand-printed earthenware plates.

05/29/2024 By Staff

Lost in Space

A New Exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum Takes Visitors on a Trip to the Stars

"The Truth of the Night Sky" is a collaboration between visual artist Anne Patterson and composer Patrick Harlin.

05/06/2024 By Kay Kipling

Art Smarts

Our Food Editor Shares Her Favorite Food Paintings at The Ringling

From the newly restored Watermelon Regatta to Snyders' divisive Still Life With Dead Game, we took a tour of the museum galleries with food in mind.

04/11/2024 By Lauren Jackson

Listening to Black Voices

Join Photographer Michael Kinsey for a Special Views From the New Horizon Artist's Talk on April 4

Kinsey will discuss his creative process, as well as his successes, challenges and inspirations at Art Center Sarasota.

03/21/2024 By Staff

In Conversation

With Parade, Shinique Smith Turns Her Gaze on the Ringling's Old Masters

A conversation with the L.A. artist about her exhibit at The Ringling.

02/16/2024 By Megan McDonald

Preview

Selby Gardens Pays Tribute to Two Great Artists With Yayoi Kusama: A Letter to Georgia O'Keeffe

The new exhibition spotlights both artists and their connection to nature and each other.

02/09/2024 By Kay Kipling