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OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. 14 S hort of owning a plane with your personal pilot on standby, the easiest route to flying private is by using a jet card or a charter broker. No single choice is right for every flight — and the wrong choice can financially ding you. Only fly a few times a year? Brokered charter is the way to go. Brokers have access to a network of planes and will source the right plane for the flight profile, after filtering for safety factors and cost. If your flights are long- hauls with extended stay-overs, a jet card could be the way to go. There are operational nuances between the two, but all things being equal, flight times and the number of overnight stays are the main metrics that determine the economic efficiencies. You can hop on an eight-seat jet — think Citation XLS or Lear 45 — from Houston to Aspen for a four-day weekend and pay $30K through a broker or $35K using a jet card. That same trip, for a weeklong stay, could cost $43K with a broker, but only $35K with a jet card. Day trip to New Orleans? Jet card for $16K, but only $9K with a broker. Jet cards typically require you to spend a bunch of money upfront, and that also has to be baked into the equation. Thought that was it? Not quite. Brokers have a trick up their sleeves: finding empty planes that are crisscrossing the country, exacting a discount from the operator that can leave both traditional charter and jet-card pricing in the dust. They're hit or miss, but when they hit, they're magic on the checkbook. www.thecompanyplane.com. G azing back, g l a n c i n g forward. In 2017, we had t h e g a m e - c h a n g i n g opening of the Moody Center at Rice University. If you haven't been, you're missing one of the most intriguing additions to Houston's cultural landscape in decades — one that loops science, dance, and performance into the mix usually reserved for visual art. At the Moody, catch the final days of Brooklyn-based Mickalene Thomas' solo, whose crystal-embedded canvases address the tropes and power of Black femininity. The artist also gets personal, with a revealing documentary about her late mother, fashion model Sandra Bush. The film screens on a vintage TV within a '70s-era living- room vignette. The only disappointing aspect is watching the video from behind a barrier; the viewer yearns to take a seat on the retro sofa, grab a beverage, and view the movie in the comfort of this vibe-y recreated interior (through January 13) … At a more grassroots level, 2017 will be fondly recalled for the opening of Emily Sloan's project in the Fifth Ward, Mystic Lyon, at 5017 Lyons Avenue. All manner of art and community activity take place, including a 24/7 window installation. The current headliner is the collage- crazy (in a good way) Houston artist Patrick Turk (through January 6). Resolve: In 2018, to discover the edge, seek out the jewels that add texture, where the real scene happens. We'll always have the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; The Menil Collection; and Blaffer Gallery (where Toby Kamps is promisingly at the helm now). But what about Houston Museum of African American Culture? HMAAC follows up upon its solo for Faith Ringgold with a survey for Houston-based David McGee. The exhibition about race in America is complex, challenging, provocative — and the equal of more internationally known painters such as Kehinde Wiley (through January 13). A Bounty of Buildings + a New Art Czar: For 2018, we're most excited about the new Glassell School of Art, signaling NY/Beijing-based Steven Holl Architects' first completed building for the remade MFAH campus, and one that boasts a green roof feature and a grassy embankment along its side. Celebrate at the Glassell Gala, Friday, May 18 (deets on our Spring Social Calendar, this issue) … This year (date TBA), we also have the opening of the new MDI — the Menil Drawing Institute, designed by L.A. boutique architecture firm Johnston Marklee. One pal in the art world has already called it "an Agnes Martin of a building." Finally, after meeting John Abodeely, the new CEO of Houston Arts Alliance, we know we're in for a fresh, new advocate for the arts and artists, with big ideas, and a welcome sense of inclusion. Catherine D. Anspon ART NOTES COURTESY THE ARTIST AND ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), PHOTO NASH BAKER Mickalene Thomas' Waiting on a Prime-Time Star, 2016, at Moody Center for the Arts COLLECTION POPPI MASSEY David McGee's Dali, 2015, at Houston Museum of African American Culture Sponsored