Sarasota Art Museum’s current Winter exhibitions are nearing their close to make way for three new compelling solo and group shows beginning in April. Get in a visit before they’re gone; the Museum is open seven days a week! Make a day of it by enjoying lunch at the Bistro and browse their uniquely curated gifts at the SHOP, too.

For art lovers looking for a more immersive experience, check out the Museum’s Focal Point and Highlights series. Focal Point, each Wednesday at 11 a.m,, is a deep dive into understanding one work chosen by a Museum curator for its artistic significance. Highlights happen every Friday at 11 a.m. and give attendees a guided tour of, you guessed it, the “highlights” from all of the current exhibitions.

Here’s what not to miss:

David Budd: Motion Within Stillness

Thru March 20

After painting for only six years, David Budd (1927–1991, Florida) dove into the New York art scene in the 1950s, immersing himself in Abstract Expressionism and working alongside iconic names of the movement such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. But Budd forged his own path, employing a unique technique of painting with a palette knife rather than a brush. David Budd: Motion Within Stillness explores this technique through a variety of Budd’s paintings from the 1970s, some of which were painted in Sarasota.

Judith Linhares: The Artist as Curator

Thru April 3

Judith Linhares: The Artist as Curator illuminates the wondrous world of Judith Linhares (b. 1940, California) and the abundance of influences that shape her artistic practice—from her time in the California Bay Area in the 1960s and ’70s, to her studio space, to her dream journals, to other artists, five of whom Linhares has selected to include in the exhibition.

With roots in abstract painting, Linhares’s work reconsiders the expressive possibilities in figuration and narrative. She uses her observation and formal skills to imagine a realm of her own making through layered brush gestures that fill the composition with dynamism and a kaleidoscope of colors. Her works are paired with the artworks of Mary Jo Vath, Ellen Berkenblit, Bill Adams, Dona Nelson, and Karin Davie. The exhibition offers insight from Linhares on these artists’ unique artistic practices and what elements relate to her own work.

Visit the exhibition, and then join us on the Marcy & Michael Klein Plaza for our talk with the artist.

Artist Talk

Judith Linhares
Judith Linhares: The Artist as Curator
Wednesday, March 23, 6–7 p.m.

Artist Judith Linhares will speak with the Museum’s Assistant Curator Emory Conetta on the current exhibition and the various ideas presented in the show. Artists Mary Jo Vath and Bill Adams will later join the conversation to speak on their own practices and the value of artist relationships.

Danner Washburn, Effigy : Hemric

Thru May 8

Danner Washburn (b. 1994, North Carolina) utilizes sculpture, painting, sound, and installation to study the junctures between consumerism, folklore traditions, and the built environments of rural American subcultures. Effigy : Hemric is the second iteration of a series where the artist fabricates the lives of Yadkin Valley North Carolina tobacco farmers through domestic spaces. This is an immersive installation visitors are encouraged to walk through and explore.

Artist Talk

Danner Washburn
Effigy : Hemric
Thursday, March 10, 6–7 p.m.
Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium

Artist Danner Washburn (b.1994, North Carolina) and Assistant Curator Emory Conetta will discuss the artist’s current exhibition, Effigy : Hemric. The program will explore Washburn’s process of collecting and transforming found objects and his interest in the Yadkin Valley (North Carolina) tobacco culture and industry.

This event coincides with extended gallery hours. You’re invited to enjoy the exhibition, Effigy : Hemric, before the program.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (L.A.)

Thru May 15

Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996, Cuba) used everyday materials, such as lightbulbs, paper, and candy, to engage viewers in deeper consideration of intrapersonal and cultural issues. “Untitled” (L.A.) is one of the artist’s candy spill works that employ the familiar and alluring material of candy.

Please join us for a Spotlight Talk on the life and work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Art historian Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig will offer insight into the subject matter, themes, and philosophies that shaped the artist’s work.

Spotlight Talk

Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s “Untitled” (L.A.)
Thursday, March 17, 6–7 p.m.
Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium

For more information, go to sarasotaartmuseum.org, or call 941-309-4300.