The Orange Show
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Jeff McKissack, a mail carrier in Houston, Texas, transformed his wood-frame house on a small suburban lot into The Orange Show [1] in honor of his favorite fruit. Between 1956 and 1980, when he died, McKissak used common building materials and recycled junk such as bricks, tiles, fencing, and farm implements to transform his home into an architectural maze of walkways, balconies, arenas and exhibits decorated with mosaics and brightly painted iron figures.
When McKissack died, Houston arts patron Marilyn Oshman formed a non-profit foundation to preserve The Orange Show. The 21 original donors represent a diverse cross-section of Houston: Dominique de Menil, members of the legendary Texas rock band ZZ Top and East End funerary director Tommy Schlitzberger. In 1982, the restored site opened and newly hired staff began to integrate The Orange Show into Houston’s cultural life through a wide variety of programs. Artists, musicians and literary figures that make Houston their home bring depth and dimension to programs, and give the public immediate access to creative thinking.
[edit] Importance
The Orange Show has evolved in to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and since 1980 is a non-profit organization designed to preserve and present works of extraordinary imagination and provide people the opportunity to express their personal artistic vision. As a form of folk art, The Orange Show captures a segment of late 20th Century American culture. Programming at the Orange Show is for both children and adults and includes hands-on workshops, music, storytelling and performance, the Eye-opener Tour program and Houston's most popular public art event, the Houston Art Car Parade.
The foundation has grown to take in other folk art icons and now possesses and runs the Beer Can House.
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