Vacation Guide to Southwest Florida

Southwest Florida Art Scene

Description

Southwest Florida is home to more than 125 art galleries, studios and museums all within an hour’s drive. While there are pockets of galleries and art studios in places like Marco Island, Sanibel, Captiva Island, Matlacha, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Naples’ Taylor and Jasper Roads and Trade Center Way, the area has three bona fide art districts: the downtown Fort Myers River District, Naples’ Fifth Avenue, and the Third Street South shopping district that includes fabled Gallery Row.

Each offers an ambiance, amenities and a sensibility that is distinctly its own. Once home to Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, the River District is the place for avant-garde, leading edge art in the tradition of favorite son Robert Rauschenberg. Fifth Avenue is the place for the masters of yesterday and unique artworks from Africa, Belize, Haiti and the Caribbean. Third Street South and Gallery Row is the spot for contemporary art ranging from the new wave of geometric and abstract expressionists to impressionists, realists and primitivists.

The quality of the galleries in these districts, and the art and artists they represent, has led southwest Florida to be twice voted the #1 art market in the entire United States. Read more and you’ll quickly see that they’re worth a day trip or lengthier excursion during your stay here in the paradise we call Southwest Florida.

Art Scene

Other Southwest Florida Art Info

2021 Zonta SanCap ‘Peek at the Unique Repurposed’
Blue Giraffe Restaurant, 1100 Par View Drive, Sanibel, FL 33957
239-395-1848, email: [email protected]
dates: Auction March 1-10; Pickups & Appraisals on March 13.

Introducing one of the most intriguing and unique fundraisers of the season. Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva invites you to help empower women by taking part in ‘Peek at the Unique 2021 Repurposed’ a one-time event that replaces the club’s traditional, three-hour tour of island homes. Working within COVID-19 guidelines, the club has designed an event featuring a virtual auction of re-imagined furniture and decor, and new art donated by local artists, plus a rare opportunity to have your valuables informally appraised by local experts.  facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZontaSanCap .

Visit www.ZontaSanCap.org for more info on the Auction as well as the Jewelry and Antiques Appraisal event. Place your auction bid at www.32auctions.com/Zonta2021Peek. Book your appraisal at http://bit.ly/ZontaPeek.  

Southwest Florida Art Galleries

Davis Art Center

Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is bringing some big names to downtown Fort Myers in the coming season. Many of them are part of the center’s chamber music and jazz series, including world-famous violinist James Ehnes and his new quartet, vocalist/trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, hot-ticket New York City big band the Glenn Crytzer Orchestra, and Leonard Bernstein’s daughter hosting a cabaret show celebrating her father and his favorite music.

SWFL Art Resources