Multimedia artist Anne Patterson and composer Patrick Harlin, explorer of soundscape ecologies, collaborate to create an awe-inspiring immersive installation for Sarasota Art Museum. Patterson, a synesthete who sees color and shape when hearing music, has frequently collaborated with musicians, including Harlin, to design mesmerizing environments. Patterson and Harlin met at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in 2014 and recognized in each other a similar artistic affinity for drawing inspiration from nature.
For this collaborative project, they are expanding upon Harlin’s original composition Earthrise (2022), an orchestral piece inspired by the eponymous photograph of the earth taken from Apollo 8 by William Anders, in 1968. This iconic photograph not only shifted humanity’s perspective, but also encapsulated the environmental movement’s call to care for the earth, provoking a kind of “collective epiphany.” Harlin’s composition will be the processional that plays as visitors pass through the galleries, so that the ambiance evokes a lunar voyage.
This immersive installation will engage the senses: visitors will plunge into color-filled light or enveloping darkness, and move in rhythm with exalting music or in ambient sound. With each step, visitors will travel imaginatively through space and time. In addition to a suspended tree, a centerpiece symbolic of hope and resilience found in nature, Patterson’s installation will include several different series, such as Stars Spinning Through Spring (2018-2024), The Truth of the Night Sky (2018-2019), and We Are All Stardust (2019-2024). The exhibition will also feature Patterson’s signature installation work, with satin ribbons suspended from the ceiling, which will be accompanied by Harlin’s ambient sound and abstract video images. A cohesive environment unifies Patterson’s abstract sculptural pieces and paintings exploring recurring themes of multiplicity and variation.
Harlin and Patterson aim to transform the collective space, whether by unraveling its limits into falling ribbons or evoking transcendence through their art and music. The Truth of the Night Sky will convey the sense of collective awe and wonderment we may feel under the dome of the stars or in the vibrating air of a concert hall, and it will show how art may inspire hope.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, with generous support from:
Platinum Sponsor
Shari and John Hicks
Silver Sponsor
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.
Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) is pleased to present “Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt,” on view from May 17 through October 25, 2026. This exhibition explores the extensive printmaking career of Sol LeWitt (1928–2007), a leader of the American Minimalism and Conceptual art movements who famously declared that “the idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”
Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) announces its 2026-2027 season, featuring a lineup of seven exhibitions including works by some of the most beloved and influential photographers of the 20th-century, award-winning glass artists, a father and son artistic lineage, multiple Ringling College of Art and Design talents and more.
Fourth Tuesdays | 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Second Thursdays | 5:30 pm-8:00 pm
Monday, March 9, 2026 | 1 pm