Folk Art in Texas Page: 40
203 p. : ill., ports. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this book.
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THE ORANGE SHOW
a water fountain oasis festooned in plastic orange
tree limbs, restrooms, a gift shop, a one-room
museum containing exhibits from the twilight zone,
and a tunnel leading to still another mini-stadium
whose focal point is a stage on which the beginnings
of a revolving platform were built to hold a lady play-
ing an organ.
At least there are plenty of seats and benches
around-sitting down to rest becomes a necessity.
Being inside the Orange Show is an overwhelming
experience. Wandering first this way and then that,
visitors can't help but gape in wonder and amaze-
ment at the unending distractions provided by the
practically suffocating multicolored curlicues and
visual diversions. Houston art critic Ann Holmes aptly
described the feeling that being in the Orange Show
gives you.
Once inside you think you're seeing the im-
possible, carefully, even lovingly engineered to
become felicitously possible. It probably doesn't
really threaten the laws of Newton, it just seems
to.
Remember those puzzles from children's books, the
ones you trace through with a pencil while trying to
find the treasure at the end of a hard-to-find pas-
sageway? Walking through the Orange Show is like
executing the children's puzzle. It is a verifiable fact
that nowhere in the show can you take more than
a dozen paces without having to change directions
or go up or down some stairs. But after you have
turned this way and that, gone up and down in-
numerable mincing staircases, marveled at the
tableau depicting what appears to be the Vikings lan-
ding on a shell-strewn beach stalked by a rubber
dime-store lizard, you become gradually aware of a
remarkable fact: the Orange Show has no actual focal
point. First-time visitors have remarked that they fall
into a delusion as they wander through. They think
that surely around the next bend will be some
clarification, some raison d'etre for such a wild and
wonderful maze of merriment.
But there really isn't any, and therein lies the secret
of the Orange Show's charm. Even though Jeff
McKissack surely did not intend it, there is a per-
vading "the joke's on you" feeling throughout. This
absurdist sense of humor is nowhere more apparent
than upon a careful examination of a door that opensin the middle of the wall near the steam-powered river
boat. From an observation deck overlooking the show
it is obvious that passing through the door
ceremoniously labeled "Captain's Quarters," you
would find yourself smack dab in the middle of the
parking lot full of eighteen wheelers that come and
go making deliveries for the business that is to the
west of the show!
Unlike the children's puzzle, the Orange Show has
no treasure hidden in a specific nook. At any given
moment a myriad of mosaic tile designs, architec-
tural gewgaws, and gyrating whirligigs-all eye-
wrenching-compete for visual attention. Each tinydetail of its construction is as consuming as the next.
If there is any treasure to be obtained from the
Orange Show it is the pure joy of being there. It is
strangely reassuring to feel part of the wacky illogical-
ity of so many disparate elements of design, philoso-
phy, and materials being tossed together in such a
delightful child's-toybox-turned-upside-down way.
Strictly speaking, the correlation between the show
and oranges is rather tenuous, but it does occur often
enough to create a recurring theme which is at best
partially convincing. Now and again, written remind-
ers are worked into the walls in mosaic tile:
ORANGES FOR ENERGY ... LOVE
ORANGES AND LIVE ... LOVE ME,
ORANGE, PLEASE LOVE ME ... CLOWN
FOUND HAPPINESS BY DRINKING COLD
FRESH ORANGE JUICE EVERY DAY* 40 *
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Folk Art in Texas (Book)
This book describes popular folk art of Texas, including basket weaving, hat-making, yard art, sculptures, murals, cemetery art, quilt-making, tattoo art, and other miscellaneous folk art. The index begins on page 198.
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Abernethy, Francis Edward. Folk Art in Texas, book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67647/m1/48/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.