Giving the pixie-dust from Art Basel Miami Beach nearly two months to settle, Florida is now gearing up for the 16th edition of its more senior fair, Art Palm Beach, on January 25-28. Kicking off with a VIP preview on January 24 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, the David Lester-founded event has lined up 15 site-specific installations and 500 artists from 13 countries.

Among the 80 exhibitors are Lyons Wier Gallery, Living With Art, Aperture Foundation (all from New York), Lars Bolander, White Space Collection (from West Palm Beach), Quantum Contemporary Art, and Waterhouse & Dodd (from London).

“We are excited about this extraordinary opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the arts community of the Palm Beaches each year,” said fair director Lee Ann Lester. “The community has embraced this new edition with greater global diversity, the newest emerging art trends, and new media in all forms; video, lighting, sound and technology.”

This year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Art Glass movement, Art Palm Beach honors Venetian glass artist Lino Tagliapietra, a sometime collaborator of Dale Chihuly, with its “Visionary Award.” Schantz Galleries features his work in a solo exhibition at the fair, and Tagliapietra will be personally on hand for a conversation with Modern Painters editor Scott Indrisek on January 25. Plus, Michigan’s Habatat Galleries curates its own glass-art exhibition of work by Chihuly, Harvey Littleton, Dominick Labino, Howard Ben Tre, and others.

Other special projects include a preview of metal sculptor Albert Paley's upcoming installations for the medians on Park Avenue at Ruth Lawrence Fine Art, a selection of contemporary aboriginal art at Amsterdam’s Leslie Smith Gallery, and a fair-wide sprinkling of Belgian artist William Sweetlove’s recycled animal sculptures.

Plus there’s a full roster of lectures and interviews with writer Anthony Haden-Guest, Miami Museum of Contemporary Art curator Bonnie Clearwater, International Collage Center founder Pavel Zoubok, dealer Jim Kempner, and others.

And that’s just a small sampling of what’s on offer. “The lecture and artist panel discussion series has been one of the highlights of this contemporary art week,” added Lester, “which draws attendees from throughout the region.”