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
Found Object Sculpture
Competition
Submission Deadline November 30, 2025
WIN UP TO
$1,000!!
On View: January 10 – 18, 2026
✸ PRIZES
What is Found Object Sculpture?
Found object sculpture is made by connecting disparate three-dimensional elements and media, including everyday items and unusual things found by happenstance. The Orange Show monument is made from found objects, as is the Beer Can House, the artwork in Smither Park, and many of the art cars seen in the annual Art Car Parade.
Salvador Dali, Lobster Telephone (1936)
Lonnie Holley, Waterline (2020)
Jeff McKissack, The Orange Show (1956-1979)
John Milkovisch, Beer Can House (1960's)
Participants
The Orange Show Center invites high school students from throughout the greater Houston/Galveston region to enter our first-ever Found Art Sculpture Competition. Selected entries will be invited to show their work at The Orange Show World HQ for two weekends in January, with winners and prizes announced on January 18.
Guidlines
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Only Houston/Galveston area high school students are eligible to participate.
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Entrants must transport their work to the Orange Show Center on January 8-9 and must retrieve their work at the end of the event on January 18.
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No illegal substances or dangerous items may be incorporated into the piece.
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Students may apply individually or as a group.
PRIZES
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Ten $250 Teacher Awards!
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Three 1st place $1,000 prizes!
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Ten 2nd places $500 prizes!
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25 Honorable mentions $100 prizes!
Winners will be determined by a jury selected by The Orange Show.
Inspiration
Lonnie Holley (b. 1950, Birmingham, AL) is a self-taught American artist and musician known for his improvised found object sculptures and his experimental music. He began making art in 1979 and in the years since his work has been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the United Nations, and the White House Rose Garden. Holley’s work reflects his difficult upbringing and explores themes of survival, memory, and resilience. A longtime friend of the Orange Show Center, he most recently visited in 2022 as our inaugural artist-in-residence.
Lonnie Holley
The Orange Show's 2022
Artist in Residence
