Eye Candy in Houston

 

Speaking of Visionary Art, Houston might be the city to check out. Tucked away in various neighborhoods are little pockets of wonder.

There is Smithers Park, which is a half acre community park dedicated to practitioners of self-taught art. It is open to the public and on Saturdays you can watch the artists at work. I loved this park.

This was one of my favorites

Right next door to Smithers Park is the Orange Show. It is described as “a monumental work of handmade architecture”. It was built by a retired postal worker, Jefferson Davis McKissack, who built it single-handedly from 1956 to 1979 on a small city lot. It should be noted that McKissack had absolutely no construction experience and his Orange Show definitely shows this lack of experience. Floors were uneven, shortcuts were made. He was definitely a learn-as-you-go type of guy. McKissack was a huge fan of Oranges, he thought that they would solve many of the world's problems. It was right around the time that Disneyland became a big deal when he started building the Orange Show and he envisioned doing something on that scale on his lot. You have to admire a guy like McKissack who had a dream and worked to try to achieve it. I also found it a little bit sad, in a way, that he worked so hard on his dream and did not see it become the Disneyland he envisioned.

This boat would go around and around in a pool of water. 
The only problem was that McKissock forgot to put a drain in the structure so it got a little funky.

And then we have John Milkovisch, a retired upholsterer. In 1968, he began inlaying thousands of marbles, rocks and metal pieces into concrete in his front and back yards. He said that he was sick of mowing grass. When he finished doing that, he started adding aluminum siding to his house in the form of beer cans. They estimate that there are more than 50,000 cans that have given their lives for Milkovisch's house. Milkovisch, his neighbors and his wife all did their part drinking 'whatever was on special'. I especially liked the garlands which were like wind chimes in the wind.

Back of the house

The back patio

Inside the house they had a pantry with many of the types of beer cans Milkovisch used

  

Houston has the National Museum of Funeral History. I visited this museum one afternoon and I was surprised that I was the only visitor in the whole place. What? People don't find Funeral History interesting? Go figure. There was a large section on Presidential Funerals, a little tiny bit on embalming history and a section on Popes becoming saints but what I found interesting were the coffins and hearses.  

Look at this beauty

This hearse is from the 1860s.  It took two horses to pull it. 
If the horses were black, the deceased was a man, white horses for women

These are coffins

Of course you need to make sure that the coffin mattress is comfortable

The coolest thing of all, though, was that Star Trek's James Doohan(Scotty) and Gene Roddenbury (Star Trek's creator) both had their ashes sent off into space - the final frontier.  

Last but not least - Houston is also the self-proclaimed the art car capital of the world. Every year there is an art car parade and there is even an actual museum dedicated to the art car world. There is an art car parade and a World Art Car Day. Unfortunately there was nothing happening for me in the art car world when I was in Houston as the museum was closed.