The Houston Orange Show Gala: La Dia de los Muertos

Houston has a very large art scene. I mean, it's pretty huge in my opinion.

This info was taken directly from The Orange Show’s website:

Orange Show Center for Visionary Art - The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art is a non-profit organization, founded in 1980, to preserve and present works of extraordinary imagination and provide people the opportunity to express their personal artistic vision. Our programs for children and adults include hands-on workshops, music, storytelling and performance, the award-winning Eyeopener Tour program and Houston's most popular public art event - the Art Car Parade & Festival. Our internationally acclaimed stewardship efforts preserve two of Houston's most famous cultural icons The Orange Show Monument and the Beer Can House. Our archive and library are used by students, scholars, the media and artists.

Every year the Orange Show holds a fund raising gala. Each gala is themed. Last year the theme was Burlesque. This year the theme was The Day of the Dead also referred to as La Dia de los Muertos. The gala's are fun because they raise money for the organization and you can dress up as well. This year there were a lot of really cool costumes that reflected La Dia de los Muertos. If you choose not to dress up, it's black tie or fancy dress.

Here are a few pics from the gala this past weekend:
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Here's Justin and I (I wore one of my most favorite 40s vintage dresses-too bad I never got a full photo of this dress! It's beautiful and amazing!

Here's a pic of Daniel and Justin. Daniel opted to have his face painted for the gala (look at the really cool sculptured heads of presidents in the background):
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Here's a photo of a sculpture behind the stage:




They also made skeletons out of some type of pipe and walked those through the crowd of tables:
If you are into supporting the arts and are ever in Houston around the beginning of November, I highly recommend going to the The Orange Show gala. Tickets are extremely expensive however, it's for a great cause!

On another note...We visited an art opening prior to attending the The Orange Show gala. Justin's friend Will's parents own The Station Museum of Contemporary Art.Here's a photo of Justin and Will:

<The Station Museum of Contemporary Art has an amazing exhibit dealing with artists in exile from Iraq. We did not stay long at the opening, but I really want to go back and spend to quality time reading about each piece. If I go back, I'll try to take some pics and post about my experience.