Art on the Space Coast

You could pop up to the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach to check out C-prints by Alfred Stieglitz, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and Robert Rauschenberg. But if laid-back, alfresco art-gazing is more your thing, you can't beat the Space Coast Art Festival (spacecoastartfestival.com), which took over downtown Cocoa Beach this past weekend. Now in its 46th year, the two-day event turned North Brevard Avenue into a labyrinth of white tents (the cold tall cans of Kirin Ichiban make you forget how far you've walked). While the art runs the gamut from funky quartz jewelry to old windowpanes gussied up with Technicolor acrylics, the art glass was the most popular, due in no small part to the luminous boost it received from the winter sun. Although not officially part of the festival, I'd be remiss not to mention Mai Tiki (maitiki.com) on Minuteman Causeway. Wayne Coombs has been hand-carving tiki statues in Cocoa Beach for 35 years, and his always-open studio is chocked with devilishly grinning hunks of palm tree and lava rock. Perfect for that empty spot in the backyard.