The Orange Show celebrates the transformation of common objects into works of extraordinary imagination. This fall, we offer an encounter with the art and music of one of the foremost self-trained visionaries of the American South. Lonnie Holley (b. 1950, Birmingham, AL) is a bona fide art world superstar and now a favorite on the music festival circuit. Known primarily for his found object assemblages and immersive yard art installations, Holley is an alchemist who deftly transforms the cast-off detritus of society into resonant talismans that critique, question, or commemorate. His music works in a similar way as Holley delivers his improvised songs with an incantatory passion. This residency culminates in a live performance within a temporary sculptural environment built during an intensive workshop with a curated group of Houston sculptors. Holley’s art is shown in museums and galleries around the country but his visit to the Orange Show focuses on community and the experience shared between artists and audience. Following a chaotic childhood with stops in foster homes and reform school, Holley’s life as an artist began when he carved sandstone grave markers for nieces who died in a house fire in 1979. The Birmingham Museum of Art collected, exhibited, and advocated for his early work, which through the 1980s evolved to include indoor and outdoor found-material assemblage, and later painting and drawing. Since 2000, he’s parlayed an interest in home-taping into a series of acclaimed records on small indie labels and a second career as a touring musician. Through four decades of multimedia work, Holley’s practice has been described as a “narrative retelling of Black American history,” celebrating the successes of the Civil Rights movement and commenting upon the struggle that remains. His sculptures can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “He keeps people spellbound with his oratory, humor, and insights into art making. He makes the kind of sculpture–and produces the kind of music–that changes people. It gets into their emotional and intellectual core and forces them to rethink art and history, as well as their own assumptions about how the world works." SF Weekly Mr. Holley first visited the Orange Show in 1995, and he returns to Houston for a two-day workshop with a curated group of advanced student and early-career participants. The group will work under Holley’s direction to create an original sculptural installation using castoff material from JR Metals and the City of Houston’s Reuse Warehouse. The results will be displayed in the dock space during the early part of October. Holley and his regular band perform in concert to complete the visit on the evening of October 8. The installation remains on view through October 16.