Iconic Musician Patti Smith To Return To Selby Gardens

OSPREY, FL — Patti Smith, iconic musician and artist in residence at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, will return to the area for a special performance at the gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.

The one-hour performance, “An Evening with Patti Smith and her Book of Days,” will commemorate Smith’s exhibition, “Patti Smith: A Book of Days,” which is on view Nov. 9 through Aug. 31 at that campus.

Advance tickets for the performance went on sale for Selby Gardens members on Thursday. The remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday. Tickets can be purchased at selby.org.

Smith’s exhibition will feature a selection of photographs taken by the famed poet and musician that offers an intimate view of her life on and off the road, according to a news release.

The photographs are taken from Smith’s recently published, New York Times-bestselling book, “A Book of Days,” which is inspired by the popularity of her Instagram account, where she began posting photographs back in 2018.

The exhibition at Selby Gardens will feature large prints of Smith’s photographs outdoors.

This is Smith’s fifth visit to Selby Gardens. Her visits have combined public activities such as readings and performances with private time drawing creative inspiration from the organization’s two bayfront campuses and collections, the news release said.

Her iconic voice also can be heard at the Jean Goldstein Welcome Center, where she narrates a visitor orientation video in the Ernie Kretzmer & Family Theater.

“We are honored to have the iconic Patti Smith perform at Selby Gardens once again,” Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of Selby Gardens, said. “Her artistry, much like nature, has a unique ability to inspire and connect us all. Patti’s performance and exhibition promises to be a magical experience, blending the beauty of her art with the serenity of our Historic Spanish Point campus.”

Smith’s relationship with Selby Gardens stems from the gardens’ 2022 Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, “Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light.” The show explored Mapplethorpe’s flower photography and Smith’s lyrics and poetry about flowers and nature, in dialogue with original horticultural installations inspired by their art.

She first visited Selby Gardens in February 2022 to tour “Flowers, Poetry, and Light” and to perform songs and readings she selected to complement the exhibition. She called the interdisciplinary show “a beguiling exhibition” and said she “was very moved to be asked to be a part of it.”

Smith returned in April 2022 for a second live performance, at which the new residency was announced. In November 2023, Smith returned with “An Evening with Patti Smith Dedicated to Georgia O’Keeffe” as a prelude to the Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, “Yayoi Kusama: A Letter to Georgia O’Keeffe.” She came back for an encore performance in February.