It was spook chic as the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art recently celebrated its 37th anniversary at the Crowne Plaza with a Dia de los Muertos-themed gala, “Ofrendas y Flores.” The event welcoming 400 guests for a seated dinner, impressive art auction, and dancing to the sounds of The Celebrity All Star Band performing hits from Earth, Wind and Fire with three of the original members.
This year’s co-chairs, Tracy and Glen Larner and Misty and Surena Matin spearheaded the event, which featured an altar filled with a colorful selection of traditional sugar skulls from Mexico, an enormous skull sculpture backdrop perfect for selfies, fortune tellers and tarot readers, and a blacklight forest.
Known for its diverse and sought-after selection of art, the auction, chaired by Star and Jack Massing, featured works from Bert Long, Jr., Sharon Kopriva, Pedro Friedeberg, Dan Havel, Forrest Prince, James Bettison, Richard Stout, Carlos Hernandez, The Art Guys, Rachel Hecker, Gail Siptak, Jerry Honnell, and more. Over 100 works were auctioned off throughout the night.
The gala raised over $400,000 for the organization to continue restoration and management folk art sites The Orange Show and The Beer Can House; the continued construction and maintenance of Houston’s first art-inspired green space Smither Park; and the production of the annual Houston Art Car Parade, the oldest and largest gathering of its kind in the world, and one of Houston’s most beloved events.
The scarily attractive Orange Show crowd.
