Baker Museum

As we approach the country’s 250th anniversary, immigration is top of mind for many people – including Naples artist Mally Khorasantchi. Her large abstract compositions are a personal reaction to something that’s happened to her. This includes her painting “Immigration.” The four-panel piece is on view at the Baker Museum in Naples. Khorasantchi painted it knowing it would be on view at the Baker Museum in the lead-up to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

No Southwest Florida museum has any of David Hockney’s artworks in its permanent collection. They are very expensive. His painting “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” sold at Christie’s New York in 2018 for $90 million, a record for a living artist. But one of his photographic drawings is on loan to the Sarasota Art Museum as part of the “Something Borrowed, Something New” exhibition.

Boy Kong is a self-taught painter, illustrator, muralist and collage artist. He draws inspiration from a wide range of influences, such as the Japanese tradition of Ukiyo-e, surrealism and animal folklore. He went in a different direction for this year’s Florida Contemporary exhibition at the Baker Museum.

During the month of June, three exhibitions close and 30 others continue their runs at museums from Marco Island to Sarasota.

Photographer Amsel Adams is remembered for panoramic black-and-white images that promoted the enjoyment and conservation of our national parks. A new exhibition at Naples’ Baker Museum of Art celebrates that connection as we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Haven’t been to the Baker Museum yet? Now’s your chance. The Baker Museum is offering free admission on Sundays beginning May 17 and continuing through Sept. 6 along with Art After Hours on the last Wednesday of each month. Summer at the Baker also includes jazz in the Daniels Pavilion.

During May, five exhibitions open, seven close and 25 others continue their runs at Southwest Florida museums. In addition, the Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy in Sarasota closes for the summer on May 23.

Naples modernist Mally Khorasantchi is featured in this year’s Florida Contemporary art exhibit at The Baker Museum. Each of her compositions in Florida Contemporary is a highly personal reaction to something that happened during Khorasantchi’s life. That’s particularly true of the artist’s four-panel oil-on-paper collage, “Rhapsodie in Blue.”

Reginald O’Neal’s best-known body of work is his Jazz Figurines Series. Paintings and a sculpture from that series are on view in Hayes Hall at Artis-Naples. “The fact that it has a musical connection made it feel really appropriate for our unique institutional context here,” said Baker Museum Chief Curator Courtney McNeil. The series originated from a random stop at a souvenir shop on a visit to New Orleans in 2022.

Southwest Florida’s museums regularly curate traveling art exhibitions as well as artworks from their permanent collections. During April, five exhibitions open, four close and 26 others continue their runs. Headlining the list is "Something Borrowed, Something New" at the Sarasota Art Museum.