The Beer Can House is currently open Saturdays and Sundays from 12-5pm
The Beer Can House is currently open Saturdays and Sundays from 12-5pm
DAVID BEST AND THE TEMPLE CREW
HOUSTON TEMPLE
ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 9, 2024
JOIN US FOR OUR FINAL PERFORMANCE & CEREMONIAL BURN ON NOVEMBER 9
The Orange Show Center seeks to transform lives through the power of art and community. No artist better represents this mission than our 2024 artist-in-residence, California sculptor David Best. Best is renowned for the immense “temples” he creates from elaborately pattered salvaged wood. Constructed all over the globe (including many of the world-famous Burning Man Festivals), these monumental public art projects are non-denominational sacred spaces that allow communities to express their deepest emotions: love, grief, joy, sorrow, celebration, and remembrance.
About The Houston Temple
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With the support of his “Temple Crew” of experienced assistants, along with collaborations from Houston’s artist, neurodiverse, and justice-involved communities, Best constructed the “Houston Temple” as a memorial to the recent passing of key members of Houston’s creative family. This is the first temple Best has built in Texas.
The Temple will remain on view through November 2024, programmed throughout the year with weekly Thursday evening vigils, partner events, and individual tributes to departed community members. At the completion of the structure’s life, the structure will be burned in a public ceremony, releasing trauma, joy, sadness, and many other emotions. All of this activity will be documented and preserved within the Orange Show's archives.
DAVID BEST’S TEMPLE CREW: Eric Altenburger, Kelly Anders, Steve Berkshire-Howe, David Best, Steve Brummond, Bill Codding, Noah Elias, Theresa Harris, Bac Hong, Gabe Korty, Will McCauley, Daniel Morehouse, Scott Prusso, Crimson Rose, Ana Roth, Maggie Roth, Masha Schultz.
TEXAS TEMPLE CREW: Carlos Aguirre, Joelle Anderson, Kimi Bainter, Ja’Nee Barton, Rebecca Bass, Diego Bonilla, Macy Bouchard, Salima Bowaniya, Terry Brooks, Kenny Browning, Clovis Buford, Danielle Callahan, Joe Callahan, Julia Xenakis Cambra, Justin Chavez, Allen Christian, Chelsea Cole, Danae Daniels, TJ Davis, James Dean, Remy Dellinger, Ty Eckley, James Michael Eros, Rodrigo Estrada, Samina Farid, Garland Fielder, Charles Fried, Mary Anne Fried, Pete Gershon, Melissa Graham, John Gregory, Max Guillory, Amy Habeeb, Joe Hale Haden, Jacob Heredia, Katie Higgins, Barbara Hinton, Ryan Hollaway, Steven Horowitz, Chad Hoskins, Jonathan Paul Jackson, Paige Johnson, Valerie Jones, Truman Kantochik, Glen Larner, Nancy Lauritsen, Alexandra Lechin, Cody Ledvina, Paula Lifschitz, Andrew Lin, Dean Liscum, Shawn Lopez, Andrew Lubetkin, Cindy Lubetkin, Marilyn Lubetkin, Lydia Luz, Harris Masterson, Terry McDaniel, Carson McGinnity, Kim Medina, Laurie Mills, Nate Morris, Vanessa Nash, Emerson Newstead, Cybil Joy Pallugna-Saenz, Trinity Pasco-Stardust, Pharaoh, Cydney Pickens, Keira Philips, Sharon Plummer, Stephanie Pranter, Barbara Quintanilla, Wendy Richards, Benny Ricker, Abby Rodriguez, Dean Ruck, Maria Rusk, Coach Russo, Carrie Schultz, Kasey Schwartz, Caz Scott, Hilary Scullane, Donna Seay, Melanie Seymour, Liz Sholar, Cynthia Singleton, Isabella Siu, Christina Solis, David Suplee, Conner Terry, Nick Terry, Joshlyn Thomas, Adrienne Thorp, Richard Tomcala, YET Torres, Mark Toth, Toni VanZant, Jessie Vance, David Vanderlinden, Juli Walsh, Shalalan Washington, Gerry Waters, Elizabeth Weil, Jay Weiss, Ricky Welch, Peggy Westmoreland, Brett Williams, Danielle Burns Wilson, Anousack Jack Xayyaponya, Kim Yates.
Special thanks to those who fed the Temple Crew: Beverly Braden, Café Brasil, Lafayette Herring, Paige Johnson, Juiceland, Ashley Langley, Tracy and Glen Larner, Mandola’s Deli, Kat Mims, Karen Oshman Lubetkin, Sue Payne, Ricky Polidore, Bob Schultz, Jill Shaffer, Jackie Wallace, Lauren Waddell, Gerry Waters.
David Best: The Houston Temple was organized by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. Major Support was provided by Carolyn Colias, Andy and Cindy Lubetkin, Karen Oshman Lubetkin and Sue Payne. Additional Support was provided by Julia and Thomas Pascal Will Robinson and Christina Solis and Graham Gaskill.
Visit The Houston Temple
The Houston Temple is open to the public every Thursday evening from 6-9pm from May 9 through October 31, 2024.
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Visiting the Houston Temple is FREE, and all ages are welcome to come experience the Temple, write a note or memory onto one of the wood planks, and insert it into the structure. You are welcome to spend as little or as long with the Temple as you would like. Because the Temple is located on the Orange Show's campus, you will also have access to Paul Kittelson's Wind Field exhibition, as well as beautiful Smither Park on your same trip.
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Parking for the Houston Temple is located at 5330 Gulf Freeway, Houston, TX 77023. Follow the signs along the I-45 frontage road to direct you to parking and entrance into our campus.
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Private Groups & Tours are welcome to email pete@orangeshow.org to schedule your visit.
All Thursday visitation dates have passed.
Join us on November 9th for our final performance & ceremonial burn.
Special Events
Saturday, November 9 | 6-10pm
Doors at 6pm | Performance at 7pm | Rain or Shine
SOLD OUT
Join us for the last opportunity to experience David Best's Houston Temple
Update regarding the "burn" of David Best's Houston Temple
Over the past seven months, David Best's Houston Temple has stood on our campus, welcoming thousands of visitors from around the country to celebrate, mourn, and reflect. We have hosted weekly visitations, private ceremonies, and special public events, allowing anyone the opportunity to leave a memory or dedication to a loved one, words of encouragement to others, or simply to find peace within the temple's beauty.
Our initial plans, in collaboration with Best and his temple crew, were to burn the entire structure at the end of its lifespan, releasing its energy that has been accumulated over its stay into the world. Unfortunately, due to our location in the middle of Houston's urban center, coupled with long stretches of drought and a burn ban in Harris County, our plans have been modified.
On November 9th, following the fourth and final performance from Lisa E. Harris's ELEMENTS series and a fire performance from Renegade Carnies, a participatory ceremonial burn will take place, inviting guests to detach memorial inscriptions and other pieces of the temple and place them within a custom-made, decorative fire receptacle where their emotional power will be released as promised. This plan has been developed through the help of members of Burning Man's founding team, regional burn veterans, and with the knowledge of Best himself.
After the event on November 9th, pieces of the temple will be preserved by the Orange Show and live in our permanent collection, while the remaining parts of the structure will be respectfully dismantled. Through the help of members of the Burner community, they will be incorporated into regional burns during the winter and spring seasons, outside of the city limits.
While we may be unable to create the fiery spectacle that was once promised, and that has been the end point for many of Best's temples throughout the years, we believe that through this modified event we will achieve the goal of closing the temple with a ceremony that is both beautiful and cathartic.
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, November 9th and we thank you for your support and understanding.
Leave a Message in The Temple
If you are unable to make it to Houston to visit the Houston Temple, you still have the opportunity to leave a message for a loved one you have lost.
Click the button below to fill out our form and have your message transcribed by a local artist onto a wood plank, which will then be inserted into the Houston Temple. Your message can be something as simple as a name, or can be a memory, tribute, dedication, poem, or more. When the temple is burned in November, your message will be as well - releasing trauma, heartbreak, and love into the universe.
Support The Project
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By supporting the creation of the Houston Temple, you will not only contribute to the cultural landscape of our city but also play a vital role in fostering community engagement and healing through art. Your generous support will enable us to provide the resources needed to make this ambitious project a reality and ensure its lasting legacy in our community.
Your support will be honored through recognition on-site at our campus, online, and in all communications, as well as invitations to special donor events throughout the year.
About David Best
Born into a creative family in San Francisco in 1945, Best attended the College of Marin but his studies were interrupted when he was drafted by the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany. Upon his return he enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute where he earned his BFA in 1974 and his MFA in 1975. With his friend Larry Fuentes, he participated in the Institute’s annual soap box derbies, and his stylized vehicles were the logical extension of the sculpture he’d been making with cast porcelain and found objects. Selling his work never interested Best, rather it was the way it could be used to forge meaningful relationships with people in crisis: cancer patients, people with AIDS, and those with learning disabilities. Working together on art cars was an obvious way to build connections with people of various backgrounds, interests, and skill levels.
Best made his Houston debut in 1984 as one of the artists featured in “Collision: Independent Visions,” an exhibition curated by Ann Harithas at University of Houston’s Lawndale Annex that’s remembered as a catalyst for art car culture and a benchmark moment in the growth of the city’s art scene. In the decades since, he’s returned to the city numerous times, driving in several of the annual Art Car Parades and assembling the elaborate decorative façade of the Art Car Museum on Heights Boulevard.
Best built his first temple at Burning Man in 2000, "The Temple of the Mind,” a tribute to Michael Hefflin, a member of Best’s crew who was killed in a motorcycle accident a week before the event. Seven more temples under David’s design and direction followed at Burning Man between 2001 and 2014, some rising as high as 120 feet. Additional temples have been built in Coral Springs, Florida with survivors of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, and in Derry, Ireland with Protestants and Catholics who left their grievances aside to work together. In 2018 he and the Temple Crew spent a month transforming the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery into a temple for their exhibition “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man.” His most recent temple, “Sanctuary," was built in 2022 in Coventry, England as a memorial to lives lost during the COVID epidemic. The Houston temple is dedicated to departed members of Houston’s creative community but Best stresses that the temple is a gift to the community which may extend its purpose to memorialize anyone’s individual loss.
The annual residency is central to the Orange Show Center’s art and education programming. It allows guest artists to create new work with the support of community and to share insight into their practice through workshops and lectures. Past artists-in-residence have been sculptor and musician Lonnie Holley (2022) and conceptual sound artist Maria Chavez (2023).