Last Chance For Glass

If you haven’t gone yet, you should. The Chihuly glass exhibit at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden ends on May 31. If taking time out to smell the roses was on your New Year’s Resolution list, this is the perfect place to do it.

The multi-colored glass orbs and jellyfish shapes scattered throughout Fairchild’s tropical wonderland are childishly pleasing. They will make you smile; they will delight your senses. And they reflect the work of a master glassmaker who has devoted his life to producing these amazing pieces.

My co-worker, Sandra, has been to Chihuly at Fairchild three times during the day and once at night. “Darling,” Sandra says in her lovely Jamaican lilt, “the show is simply spectacular. Every time I go, I see something different.” And she’s right. Looking at Sandra's snapshots of the show, I realized I had missed an entire outdoor display near the Bailey Palm Glade. So now I guess I’ll have to go back, too.

This just in: The nighttime exhibit, Tropical Chihuly Nights, will be open every night starting on May 22.

Tickets for the daytime exhibit are $20 adult, $10 child, $15 senior. Tropical Chihuly Nights costs $30 for non-members, $20 for members.


MORE CULTURAL NEWS:

The Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium is now open late on Friday nights, until 10 p.m. The Box Office Closes 9 p.m., and the Wildlife Center closes at 7:30 p.m. Go check out their new exhibit, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.

And You Thought You Brought It With You: Art & Culture in Miami Before 1980
Through May 29
Bakehouse Art Complex
561 NW 32nd St.
Miami, FL , 33127
Ever wonder what happened to the marquis from the old Grove Cinema, where the Rocky Horror Picture Show was a mainstay back in the Eighties? You can see it on display at the Bakehouse Art Complex, along with playbills, costumes, photographs and other assorted items from Miami’s cultural past. This exhibition offers an interesting glimpse of the city and its cultural life before Art Basel changed the art landscape forever.

Allegories of Haitian Life from the Collection of Jonathan Demme
May 19 – August 6
Bass Museum of Art
2121 Park Ave.
Miami Beach, FL 33139
The Academy Award winning film director of “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia” began collecting Haitian art in the mid-1980s. This exhibition showcases his treasured art possessions and offers a unique opportunity for museum visitors. Realistic and supernatural aspects of Haitian life, including Voodoo, are visually documented in a way that celebrates the strength of the Haitian spirit.

Summer in Miami – Photography Exhibit
May 13 – June 7
Acclaimed photographer Robin Hill captures Miami’s beauty and tropical charm like no one else. An exhibit featuring his latest work opens tomorrow at Lurie Fine Art Galleries, 3900 NE 1st Ave., Miami, FL 33137.

JVC Jazz Festival –Miami Beach
May 17 -21, 2006
The JVC Jazz Festival-Miami Beach blows into town with a stellar lineup of jazz artists from around the globe. At the new Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club, you can catch Israel "Cachao" Lopez, of Buena Vista Social Club fame, on May 18. Tickets: $30. Shows at 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Deauville Hotel, Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club, 6701 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33141; tel: 305/865-5775.

Check out the complete JVC Jazz Festival lineup.

Summer Shorts Festival 2006
June 1 – July 2
University of Miami, Ring Theatre
1312 Miller Dr.
Coral Gables, FL 33134
The Carbonell Award-winning Summer Shorts Festival has become a nationally recognized event and something of a must-see social event for South Florida audiences. Chill out on the UM Campus and enjoy world and regional premieres of "shorts" -- original comedies, dramas and musicals running 5-20 minutes in length.

Culture in the City
Ongoing
Fans of MiamiIntelligence, a cultural program which presented lectures and workshops on a variety of topics, will want to check out its reincarnation: Culture in the City. Culture in the City presents a smorgasbord of intellectual offerings at the Miami Museum of Science, and posts events happening elsewhere in the city on its web site. Boost your IQ while enjoying free wine and cheese. Events begin at 7:30 p.m. (come at 7 for wine and cheese) and admission is $10, with a discount for students.