Restoration

The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art acquired the Beer Can House after creator John Milkovisch and his wife, Mary, passed away. Diligent documentation and planning over the last few years have determined a comprehensive plan to restore the site to its former glory and renovations are currently underway.

Unfortunately time and Houston’s climate have begun to fade and deteriorate John’s original art work. The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art’s intent is to carefully restore this work to its original condition where possible and to recreate artistic elements where necessary, bringing back the delightful ambiance of the site.

What’s missing from the house now, as you may have noticed, is over 30,000 beer can pieces that used to hang as curtains from the eaves and fences. These pieces are currently being sorted, cleaned of oxidation and rust, and will be re-hung along with 8,000 new replacement pieces made from donated vintage beer cans.

Volunteers from the local neighborhood to the far reaches of Houston’s suburbs and even as far as California (seriously!) have been an integral part of creating these new beer can elements.

Once restoration is complete at the end of this year, the site will be open to visitors for guided and self-guided tours that will feature the history of the Beer Can House, the Rice Military neighborhood, John’s artistic techniques and Folk Art in Texas.

Generous support from the The Brown Foundation, Houston Endowment, the Cullen Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Silver Eagle, as well as in-kind contributions from SpawMaxwell and Apollo BBC, Inc. are helping to make this project a success.

Reconstruction services and supplies donated by Spaw-Maxwell