Arts & Culture

Looking for an artful way to observe Valentine’s Day? Consider these three alternatives to flowers and chocolates.

Three shows open, five productions close and 11 others continue their runs this week in Southwest Florida theaters.

On Saturday, the Laboratory Theater of Florida announced that Annette Trossbach is retiring as its producing artistic director. Trossbach founded the lab in 2009. During her 16 years at the helm, she established the lab as a bastion for innovative, groundbreaking theater productions. Along the way, she transformed local theater into a safe and acceptable environment in which artists and audiences can explore, discover and expand personal horizons and raise their social consciousness.

Renowned author, interviewer and photographer Victor Bockris is in Southwest Florida for an ArtSPEAK@FSW lecture and book signing in conjunction with the current exhibition at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery titled “David BRADSHAW & William S. BURROUGHS: Propagation.” Over a career spanning more than half a century Bockris has interviewed and written about icons stretching from the Beat Generation to the 1970s Punk scene. We’ll talk with Bockris about his career, his approach to interviewing and his latest book “The Burroughs-Warhol Connection.”

This weekend, five outdoor art festivals take place in Southwest Florida.

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is celebrating Black History Month with playwright August Wilson’s “Fences.” Each of Wilson’s Century Cycle plays speak about the African-American experience in this country. In this context, says Artistic Director Nate Jacobs, “Fences” focuses on the universal theme of families, in particular, the father-son relationship.

Internationally renowned artist Hunt Slonem recently donated an artwork titled “Totem Winter” to the Golisano Children’s Museum’s permanent collection.

“Nude Nocturne” is a celebration of the human body as a living, breathing expression of identity, emotion and spirit. While there is a weeks-long exhibition in the gallery of nude artwork submitted by talented artists from across the country, the main event takes place at the Alliance for the Arts on Saturday night.

Southwest Florida is the site of three outdoor art festivals during the weekend of January 25 & 26.

January 18th marks the opening reception of an exhibition at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery titled “David BRADSHAW & William S. Burroughs: Propagation.” The exhibition will feature never-before-seen works reflecting the artistic collaboration between the late, legendary Burroughs and internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, and sharpshooter Bradshaw. We delve into the exhibit in a conversation with David Bradshaw and Bob Rauschenberg Gallery Director Jade Dellinger.