Southwest Florida’s art world enters a vibrant new chapter. Private dealers are opening to the public, new galleries are staking their ground and major institutions are curating with fresh eyes. This is the season for provocative exhibitions that challenge and inspire. Here's to a cultural calendar that celebrates creativity in every form.
MASTERPEICE COLLECTION, local art adviser SH Modern opens its vault for its new Fort Myers gallery.
Fort Myers art consultancy SH Modern pulls back the curtain with its new College Parkway gallery, granting the public rare access to works once reserved for private collectors. Sallie Hirshberg established SH Modern in 2014 after more than a decade as a co-founder at Boston’s esteemed Galerie d’Orsay, where she staged landmark exhibits such as New England’s first Salvador Dalí showcase. Now, she draws on those connections to bring works from artists such as Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein to Southwest Florida.
This month, the gallery hosts its grand opening with the debut of Modern Masters (Nov. 8 — Dec. 31), featuring works by modernists Dalí, Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. Future exhibits will highlight acclaimed contemporary American artists like large-scale printmaker Donald Sultan, graffiti artist Amber Goldhammer and abstract landscape painter Kathy Buist. As the gallery hits its stride, Sallie also plans to develop a lecture series, creating a forum for collectors and aficionados to deepen their appreciation of fine art. —Alyssa Riley
SHIFTING TIDES, an exhibit-turned-book reflects on rising tides and lost history.
An exhibit-turned-book reflects on rising tides and lost history. Two lifetimes spent on the open water are behind Ghost Horizons, a new book from Naples artist Andy Owen and fourth-generation fisher and local poet Chanda Jamieson. The collaboration began in 2024 with exhibitions at BIG ARTS and Arts Bonita. As the pair assembled their works—Andy’s haunting, high-contrast paintings and prints paired with Chanda’s resonant stanzas—they watched Round Key slip beneath the rising tides. The resulting exhibit, Ghost Horizons, captured the slow and steady loss, honoring our coastal landscapes while reckoning with devastation from hurricanes and human interference.
Now assembled into a 75-page book by Florida Gulf Coast University, Ghost Horizons serves at once as a love letter and a call to protect what makes our region unique. The book will be released on November 3 at an event honoring Andy, who passed away in June following a sudden cancer diagnosis. Chanda and Andy’s wife, Nuch, completed the project together—the final word from a man whose work speaks for itself. —Emma Witmer
Andy Owen’s Gullivan Bay (2023-2024)
season preview swfl art fix gullivan bay
PAINT THE TOWN, new galleries spark inspiration.
Naples Art Factory
In July, local educator, advocate and artist Dani Papanikolaou launched a new gallery and studio at Mercato. The space bursts with post-contemporary and abstract work from Dani, his family, and other local artists and makers. The Factory also hosts classes, like watercolor painting and printmaking, and community meet-ups.
Fort Myers Beach Art Association and Gallery
After three years of nomadic exhibits and classes, the Fort Myers Beach Art Association has a new home on McGregor Boulevard—its first permanent gallery since Hurricane Ian. The 1,200-square-foot space holds its grand opening this month as part of the nonprofit’s 75th anniversary celebration, with exhibits by member artists.
Method & Concept
The contemporary art gallery relocates this month to a North Naples campus shared with parent company Thomas Riley Artisans’ Guild. The new location functions as an atelier for founding director and furniture designer Chad Jensen, as well as a gallery space. This season, Chad and his wife, gallery manager Amy, commission new exhibits and installations, including large-scale works by Christy Lee Rogers for the grand opening. —A.R.
HOT TICKETS
Visual Arts
This season’s exhibitions honor legacies forged in paint and ongoing struggles for progress. Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers commemorates the artist’s 100th birthday with Steve Keene: Rauschenberg 100 – A Centennial Celebration (through Dec. 6). Curator Jade Dellinger commissioned the nationally recognized artist to produce 100 site-specific pieces incorporating images of Rauschenberg, his Captiva studio and seminal works like Monogram and Buffalo II.
Fresh off the hype of last season’s Matisse revue, Naples Art Institute turns its attention to late surrealist Joan Miró. Focusing on his later works, Joan Miró: Fire in the Soul (Dec. 13 — Apr. 4) assembles bold, experimental paintings, gouaches and etchings from the artist’s foundation, private collections and Spanish museums.
For an exhibition with a local point of view, visit There & Here—New Perspectives of the Permanent Collection (ongoing from Jan. 10) at Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum. Contemporary art curator Dianne Brás- Feliciano assembled philanthropists, activists and artists to review the museum’s private collection. After months of meetings, the committee settled on the theme of migration, selecting dozens of works spanning more than a century. On Feb. 20, a four-person panel speaks on ancestry and geographic displacement.
At Florida Gulf Coast University’s Wasmer Art Gallery in Fort Myers, Onajide Shabaka explores ethnobotany in Becoming Tomorrow’s Dream (Jan. 23 — Feb. 19). The Miami-based artist pairs historic photography with clippings of Florida flora—a nod to folk healing—as he examines family, environment and social progress since the final years of slavery. On Feb. 3, the university’s jazz band debuts compositions inspired by Onajide’s work.
Fort Myers hidden gem Tribby Arts Center at Shell Point Retirement Community puts on a massive exhibit by painter and fiber artist Sun Smith-Forêt (Jan. 28 — Apr. 25). Known for her sprawling quilts and commentary on culture, history, architecture and environment, the St. Louis-based artist assembles nearly 100 works, including baskets, paintings and Riverwork Project—a quilted mural spanning an entire corridor. —E.W.
Courtesy Bob Rauschenberg Gallery
season preview swfl art fix steven keene rauschenberg honoring
Steve Keene created 100 pieces honoring Bob Rauschenberg, incorporating references to the artist’s Captiva studio and seminal works.
Performing Arts
Building on last year’s explosive growth and new theaters, this season delivers world-class concerts and performances. Gulfshore Playhouse continues to broaden its scope. After staging her first thriller last season, founder Kristin Coury leans into the genre with Agatha Christie’s classic The Mousetrap (Jan. 15 — Feb. 15).
Opera Naples enters its 20th season with an expanded, five-week Festival Under The Stars (Jan. 24 — Mar. 15). Themed around ‘Trials of the Heart,’ the festival relocates this year, splitting performances between Baker Park and the Wang Opera Center.
World-renowned Vienna Philharmonic (Mar. 6-7) returns to Artis—Naples with symphonies by Mahler, Mozart and Dvořák, joined on opening night by international piano sensation Lang Lang.
The musical moments continue at BIG ARTS Sanibel Island, where prodigy pianist Alexander Malofeev (Mar. 12) performs selections from his debut album. The Russian wunderkind burst onto the scene a decade ago at age 13, when he won the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians.
Cap the season at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers with the first national tour of Kimberly Akimbo (Apr. 1-5). The 2022 Broadway musical about a teen with a genetic condition that causes rapid aging won Tony Awards for musical score, choreography and direction during its opening season. —E.W.
Courtesy Lang Lang/Olaf Heine
swfl season preview art fix lang lang at artis naples
Piano sensation Lang Lang performs with the Vienna Philharmonic at Artis—Naples in March.
Top photo caption: Pablo Picasso’s bold modernist work hangs in SH Modern’s new College Parkway gallery, where the team hosts the Modern Masters exhibit, opening November 8.