Press Releases

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) is pleased
to announce the addition of a new playscape located on the Museum’s Great Lawn. Titled “Natural Curiosity,” this piece will serve as part art installation, part outdoor classroom, inspiring creativity, social connection and well-being for locals, tourists and school students alike.
Designed by Brooklyn, New York-based, award-winning multidisciplinary design studio The
Urban Conga, this inviting, site-specific installation will create a dynamic outdoor respite for Museum visitors, sparking connection with nature and social activity through open-ended play.

Experience photographs by some of the 20th century’s most influential photography titans up close and personal in “Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder” on view October 18, 2026–April 4, 2027 at Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM). As one of only four venues in the country selected to host this prestigious traveling exhibition, Sarasota Art Museum will showcase approximately 100 striking photographs by more than 50 artists, including Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Danny Lyon and Gordon Parks.

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design is proud to present “Painting the Floating World,” the first mid-career survey of works by Japanese American painter Chie Fueki. Running October 18, 2026–April 4, 2027, this exhibition highlights the 25-year trajectory of Fueki’s artistic practice, celebrated for transforming scenes of everyday life into luminous, extraordinary spaces.

For over 40 years, internationally acclaimed artists Monica Guggisberg and Philip Baldwin have revolutionized the studio glass movement. Their work has been shown in hundreds of exhibitions worldwide, including a monumental installation in England’s Canterbury Cathedral (2018).

Opening October 18, 2026, Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design will debut “Eszter Sziksz: Seeking, I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For (And I Hope I Never Find It).”

Photographs are, as the theorist Roland Barthes wrote, “certificates of presence,” verification that a moment, a person or a place existed. From the adoration of a loved one or the wonder felt before nature to the hardship of labor or the devastation of war, photographs can be imprinted with the totality of human experiences.

Visually striking and intricate, Chie Fueki’s paintings capture contemporary life in full motion. Known for her vibrant and densely layered works, Fueki synthesizes Japanese ukiyo-e atmospheric techniques with Western abstraction to transform familiar scenes into luminous“floating worlds.”

What does it mean to visualize the unknown? Award-winning glass artists Monica Guggisberg and Philip Baldwin examine the profound mysteries that underpin our understanding of the universe in their upcoming exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design.

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) is pleased to participate in Blue Star Museums, a program that provides free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families during the summer. The 2026 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 16, 2026, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2026.

Five regional art museums, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; The John and
Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota;
the Tampa Museum of Art; and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, are pleased to
announce a call to artists for “Skyway 2027: A Contemporary Collaboration”, the fourth iteration of the exhibition
celebrating the diversity and talent of artistic practices in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.