Each year, Southwest Florida residents and visitors enjoy more than sixty outdoor art fairs and festivals. Among them is the Naples New Year’s Art Fair. It’s consistently ranked among the nation’s top fine art fairs by Sunshine Artist Magazine.
Because of its national ranking and the beautiful weather in Southwest Florida this time of year, the Naples Art Institute’s New Year’s Art Fair draws 250 of the finest artists in the country and as many as 20,000 art enthusiasts.
“I always think of these things as a barometer of the emotional wellbeing of a community,” said Naples Art Institute Executive Director Frank Vanpoorten. “If you manage to draw a big audience and everyone’s in a happy mood, we are happy, the vendors are happy and the folks who attend are in a generous mood and happy to buy works at a fairly affordable price, it’s a pretty good place to be.”
Verpoorten’s assessment of the importance of the New Year’s Art Fair to the community is backed up by the Art Fair Source Book, which found that last year’s festival was seventh in the nation for fine art sales. There’s art for every taste, budget and collector.
“This may be your introduction into collecting,” said Verpoorten. “It’s lovely. I’ve taken away a few things every year and I consider myself someone with a good quality instinct and every year that I find a few things that I’m like actually this is very nice.”
Historically, the festival took place on Fifth Avenue South. Last year it moved to Cambier Park, but many patrons still avail themselves of the restaurants, cafes and high-end boutiques and galleries that line Fifth.
“Cambier Park really is the ideal location for the art fair,” Verpoorten emphasized. “We have now the shade of the trees. The grass and the soil also really cools things down a lot, and it’s quite lovely. And you can break away from the art fair itself here and go to Fifth for any type of food experience there or you can stay on our grounds and go to any of the food trucks or so on. It’s the type of thing that you see not only in America, but also in Europe when you’re traveling in the summer and you encounter in France or Switzerland a beautiful art fair or craft fair.”
The Naples New Year’s Art Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, January 4 and 5 in Cambier Park and along Park Street.
MORE INFORMATION:
This is the 29th year that Naples Art Institute has held the Naples New Year’s Art Fair.
Last year, 250 national and local artists displayed artworks valued collectively at more than $15 million in categories ranging from drawings and original oils and acrylics on canvas, panel and galvanized aluminum to watercolors on paper, 2D and 3D mixed media, limited edition prints, photography, digital art, metal sculpture, wood carvings, ceramics, hand-crafted jewelry, fiber, leather goods and wearable art, and more.
Admission is free and there is ample parking abutting and within easy walking distance of Cambier Park.
The Naples Art Institute is located in the northwest corner of Cambier Park on Park Street.
Naples Art Institute, a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1954 and whose mission is to promote and advance interest and participation in the visual arts.
Besides the New Year’s Art Fair, the Naples Art Institute organizes the following art fairs and festivals:
- Art in the Park
- Naples National Art Festival
- Naples Downtown Art Show
An average of 600 artists from around the country vie for between 200 and 250 coveted spots at this prestigious art festival.
Artists are selected by independent jurors to ensure the best quality original artworks for festival guests to enjoy and purchase.
Artists are required to be present in their booth throughout each day of the fair.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.