Global Icon Will Return to Selby Gardens in 2023 and 2024
Writer, performer, and visual artist Patti Smith has been named Selby Gardens’ inaugural Artist in Residence.
Smith’s artistic residency will include two return visits to Selby Gardens—one on November 15, 2023 and one on February 15, 2024—during which she’ll combine public activities such as readings and performances with private time drawing creative inspiration from our two bayfront campuses and our world-renowned collections.
The announcement was made April 28, 2022, at a live performance by Smith at the Downtown Sarasota campus. The event was an encore to her February 2022 visit and performance in celebration of the 2022 Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light.
“Patti Smith is recognized worldwide for her revolutionary mergence of artistic disciplines—especially poetry and rock,” said Jennifer Rominiecki, President & CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, announcing the residency. “All of us at Selby Gardens are deeply honored that she has accepted our invitation to be our very first Artist in Residence. Selby Gardens applies interdisciplinary practice to our ongoing exhibition program, and we feel that Patti’s visionary methodology resonates with our organization on many levels.”
After Smith first visited in February and toured “Flowers, Poetry, and Light,” she called the interdisciplinary show “a beguiling exhibition” and said she “was very moved to be asked to be a part of it.” Her February performance included songs and readings she selected to complement the exhibition.
Smith is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, National Book Award-winning author, and fine artist. She has produced a body of work whose influence branches out through generations, across disciplines, and around the world.
Media coverage of Patti Smith at Selby Gardens:
Photos: An Evening with Patti Smith – Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Watch: Patti Smith performs ‘My Blakean Year’ at Selby Gardens – Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Patti Smith Fondly Walks Down Memory Lane – Sarasota Observer
Singer-Songwriter-Author Patti Smith Performs at Selby Gardens – Sarasota Magazine
Patti Smith on Gardening, Donuts, and Creating Out of Chaos – TOWN & COUNTRY