Image: Sarasota Art Museum
Sarasota Art Museum is continuing its Art at Noon series with a slate of exhibition-focused talks that bring artists, curators and collectors into the museum’s lobby for hour-long discussions. The program is free for members, with not-yet-members paying $20, which includes museum admission, and the museum notes that standing room only should be expected because the talks will explore works in the galleries.
The first confirmed talk in the series takes place Tuesday, July 21, 2026, from 12 to 1 pm, when Eszter Sziksz joins the program to discuss 'Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt'. Sziksz is identified by the museum as a Ringling College of Art and Design professor of Fine Arts, Printmaking. The museum’s listing frames the conversation around printmaking and the exhibition itself, placing the midday event within the museum’s broader program of public discussions tied to current displays.
On the museum’s Art at Noon page, Sarasota Art Museum positions the series as a way to “come enjoy discussions with specialists and artists covering a variety of topics related to Sarasota Art Museum’s exhibitions, architecture, and areas of interest.” The talks are held in the Wendy G. Surkis & Peppi Elona Lobby, reinforcing the museum’s emphasis on direct access to interpretation and conversation rather than a formal lecture setting. The current lineup connects the series to several exhibitions on view and upcoming, including 'Something Borrowed, Something New', 'Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt', 'Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder' and Eszter Sziksz’s own exhibition 'Seeking, I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For (And I Hope I Never Find It)'.
The July 21 talk is the first in a sequence of Art at Noon events scheduled through late 2026. On Tuesday, August 18, Sarah Howard, director of the University of South Florida’s print atelier Graphicstudio, is set to discuss 'Something Borrowed, Something New'. On September 15, collectors Richard and Ellen Sandor will lead an intimate walking tour and discussion of the same exhibition. On October 20, Christopher Jones, curator of photography and media art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, will speak about 'Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder'. A second talk with Sziksz follows on November 17, this time focused on her exhibition 'Seeking, I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For (And I Hope I Never Find It)'.
The museum’s biographies for the speakers underscore the program’s mix of academic, curatorial and collecting perspectives. Howard is described as having more than 25 years of experience at Graphicstudio, the USF Contemporary Art Museum and the university’s public art program. The Sandors are presented as seasoned collectors whose holdings include photography, outsider art, sculpture and new media. Jones’s biography cites his recent curatorial projects on photography and expanded media, while Sziksz’s entry highlights a practice that blends traditional printmaking with video and sensory installations. Those profiles align the noon talks with the museum’s exhibition program rather than with a separate lecture series.
Sarasota Art Museum also lists other ongoing public programs, including curator’s tours, director’s tours, highlights tours, youth playdates and Art on Film screenings, along with a full schedule of Jazz Thursdays. For Art at Noon, however, the immediate focus remains on the July 21 session in the lobby, where Eszter Sziksz will discuss 'Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt' from noon to 1 pm.
