Visual Art

Between New Year’s weekend and April’s end, Southwest Florida is the scene of more than 40 outdoor art fairs and festivals. Some are boutique shows that feature just a few dozen artists. Others boast more than 200 exhibitors, with ArtFest Fort Myers attracting an estimated 90,000 visitors and the Cape Coral Art Festival topping out at 140,000 attendees. Here you'll find the names, dates and organizers of each of these outdoor art shows.

The 15th Annual Coconut Point New Year’s Art Festival will be held in Estero Dec. 27 and 28. This two-day outdoor art festival takes place in the parking lot along Via Villagio Drive.

From Sarasota to Marco Island and Venice and Sanibel to Arcadia and LaBelle, Southwest Florida is home to more than a dozen art centers. Most host visual art exhibitions showcasing member, regional and nationally renowned artists that change every month. In December, there are 23 shows at these venues, underscoring the importance of the arts in our part of the country.

The Marco Island Center for the Arts is tackling the controversial role of AI in art head on. Its current exhibition, “Words as Art,” explores the intersection of visual storytelling and artificial intelligence.

Each year, the Naples Art Institute holds three outdoor art fairs, the Naples New Year’s Art Fair in January, Naples National in mid-February and the Naples Downtown Art Fair in mid-March. The Naples Art Institute Director, Frank Verpoorten, says that art fairs are the best way for people to see a lot of art in a short amount of time.

Hot Works ushers in the 2025-2026 outdoor art festival season with the Naples Fine Art Show October 25 & 26. This annual show features everything from paintings, drawings and mixed media to fine art jewelry, glass, sculpture and more.

The path of becoming a professional artist isn’t easy. Aside from developing the necessary skills in your particular field, obtaining specific materials can help separate an artist from the field.

The Trump administration’s tariff war is hurting textile and fiber artists as well as their overseas suppliers. Many of the specialty items these artists use are not available domestically.

Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts is Southwest Florida’s newest arts and culture nonprofit. The new organization is committed to providing support, education, community, and performance opportunities for BIPOC artists. We’ll learn about the new organization in an encore of our conversation this past summer with founder and executive director Sonya McCarter, board of directors member Cotrenia Hood, and dance instructor Eden Collier.

Days after the city of Miami Beach filed a similar case, Fort Lauderdale has challenged the legality of directives by the Florida Department of Transportation to remove art and markings on streets.Fort Lauderdale filed its challenge Monday at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, arguing that the department did not go through a legally required rule-making process. Such directives went to local governments across the state and have drawn heavy attention, in part, because they required removing LGBTQ-themed rainbow crosswalks.