Visual Art

FGCU Professor of Art Andy Owen died on June 21 following a three-month battle with cancer. For 17 years, Owen taught multiple levels of drawing and printmaking. He also played an instrumental role in the formation of FGCU’s permanent art collection.

Naples-based artist Muffy Clark Gill has a solo exhibition of works at the Alliance for the Arts titled, “Portraits of Perception.” Works in the exhibit highlight the artist’s work in the ancient Indonesian batik process and are inspired by her passion for travel.

This year, the Baker Museum of Art in Naples celebrates its 25th anniversary. It has also achieved another milestone - first-time accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, which places it in the top 3 percent of museums in the U.S. and only accredited museum of any kind in Collier County.

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 March, there are 24 shows at these venues. Each will stimulate your imagination and underscore the importance of the arts in our part of the country.

Amer Kobaslija is one of three artists being featured by The Baker Museum of Art in its 12th Annual Florida Contemporary exhibition. His paintings explore the landscape, people and history of Florida, demonstrating the Bosnian-born artist’s complicated relationship with the state he calls home. Museum Director Courtney McNeil provides context.

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

Pine Island artists Deb Zwetsch and Zan Lombardo have collaborated on a joint exhibition now at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers titled, “We Contain Multitudes.” The artists join us live in studio to talk about the exhibition, their artistic inspirations and their artistic approaches, both collaboratively and as individual artists.

In July Artis-Naples announced full plans for the coming 2023-24 visual and performing arts season. The unifying theme this year is “Artistic Senses – See, Hear, Taste,” and seeks to transcend the boundaries between artistic disciples in a way that engages the senses on multiple levels.

A retrospective exhibition of works by Naples-based artist Carmelo Blandino comes to the Wasmer Art Gallery at Florida Gulf Coast University Jan. 17 – March 2. We talk with the artist himself along with co-curators of the exhibition, FGCU Art Gallery Director John Loscuito and founding Director of “Method and Concept” Chad Jensen.

The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery is exhibiting a film installation titled “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” through Dec. 10. The project is a collaboration of more than 60 internationally renowned artists, sequentially contributing one minute of film, but only having the final frame of the previous artist’s film to respond to. We’ll take a closer look with Gallery Director Jade Dellinger and initiating and contributing artist Jack Massing.