This lecture was part of the Divine Disorder Conference on the Conservation of Outsider Folk art that was organized and hosted by NCPTT. The conference was held February 15-16, 2012 on the campus of Northwestern University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art
Abstract
The Orange Show Foundation Inc. recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to perform a Detailed Conservation Survey of The Orange Show, an environmental artwork created by self-taught artist and postman Jefferson Davis McKissack. This presentation will focus on the history of preservation and stabilization of this monument, and present to the public for the first time the findings of the first Detailed Conservation Survey of the monument. This survey is the first item-by-item examination of the entire Orange Show monument by both sculpture and architectural conservation professionals.
The Orange Show is currently experiencing additional weather and foundation related structural and superficial deterioration in parts of the environment since the last major conservation and stabilization efforts in 1991. The areas requiring attention need to be assessed and analyzed so that appropriate conservation measures can be taken. In September 2007, an Architectural Assessment Report, funded by the Heritage Preservation’s Conservation Assessment Program, was completed. This report advised that “lack of a strong foundation is perhaps the largest problem for the Orange Show” and that “existing problems are huge, despite some major and valiant efforts through the first 25 years to conserve and maintain this unique outdoor artwork. The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art is to be highly commended for the care to-date for a complex and high-maintenance outdoor historical artifact”.
When the Orange Show was purchased, the best advice from the fields of conservation and preservation was to treat The Orange Show as a work of architecture rather than a work of sculpture. A prevailing philosophy of stabilization was decided upon by the founding Board and maintenance procedures put in place. With the many advances in both conservation and in the restoration of folk art sites, it is time for The Orange Show to thoroughly assess the state of this National Historic Site, assess and update maintenance and conservation procedures, and plan for long term structural repairs and object conservation.
The OSCVA is a 30-year-old non-profit organization originally founded to preserve and promote The Orange Show, a visionary art environment located in Houston’s East End. Each year our outreach efforts impact more than 400,000 individuals who participate in our programs, visit the visionary sites we steward, or line up on Allen Parkway for the Houston Art Car Parade. The primary activities of The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art (OSCVA) is the continued preservation and presentation of The Orange Show monument and The Beer Can House to ensure that these extraordinary landmarks will be enjoyed for generations.
Team members for this project include: Lynette Wallace, Executive Director and Ruben Guevara, Preservation Manager, Anna Mod, Historic Preservation Specialist, SWCA Environmental Consultants, Catherine L. Williams, Silver Living Art Conservation, and Stephen Fox, Professor, Rice University School of Architecture.
Speaker Biography
Marilyn Oshman, Orange Show, Houston, Texas
Marilyn Oshman’s father, Jake, opened the first Oshman’s Sporting Goods store in Houston in 1931, and Marilyn herself was closely involved in the business. But art was always her passion. In the early 1970s as board chair of the Contemporary Arts Museum, she was instrumental in the hiring of director James Harithas, an often provocative former curator at D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art who was a great champion of emerging artists and helped change the face of art in Texas. Since its inception thirty years ago, she has also been among the staunchest supporters of the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, an entity that preserves such treasures as the Orange Show Monument, the Beer Can House, and the Art Car Museum and Parade, an event that attracts 250,000 people each year. The Orange Show mottoes, “Art for the sake of art” and “Art for everyone,” are the mantras she lives by.
In 1999 I wrote an architecture & Engineering Report on the fabulous Orange Show after performing an extensive inspection and photo survey. I hope you have a copy for reference!
Bud Goldstone, engineer, author.