Preservation Dallas is presenting their first-ever virtual program tomorrow entitled “Art Deco Architecture in Fair Park,” and it’s a can’t-miss event for anyone who loves history, Dallas, and art.
This program is important on multiple levels, not the least of which is the program’s virtual aspect. Our recent unexpected and collective fast-forward into video technology has created exciting opportunities. We are gaining access to people and places that not long ago would have necessitated a sizable monetary expense and a big chunk of time.
The Spirit of the Centennial statue depicts a young woman rising from a cactus.
A Virtual Tour Experience of an Art Deco Treasure
Now, you can enjoy your favorite beverage, stay in your shorts, yoga pants, or heck, even your jammies, and tune into experts like Preservation Houston’s Executive Director David Bush and their Programs Director, Jim Parsons. Together they have written several books about Art Deco in Texas. Their 2012 Fair Park Deco book focuses on the architecture and art of Fair Park created for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.
What is equally important about this program is, of course, education. Most people don’t know Fair Park has one of the largest collections of Art Deco architecture and art in the world.
Yes, I said world.
We have an Art Deco site people from all over the world travel to see in our proverbial backyard. In general, they are much more knowledgeable about our own Art Deco wonderland than we are. Fortunately, this excellent presentation will rectify that.
Bush and Parsons have presented programs about the Art Deco architecture and art of Fair Park all over America. “We’ve been surprised at how many people outside Texas are aware of Fair Park,” Parsons said.
A Functional, Historic Fairground
In addition to Art Deco lovers, there are also dedicated World’s Fair enthusiasts.
“Fair Park is one of the only places where an intact fairground still exists,” Bush said. “There is one left in Israel and part of the San Diego fairground is left. Walking around Fair Park, you can still get a feel for what it must have been like in 1936. It’s hard to believe it was all designed and built in less than a year!”
If You Go:
“Art Deco Architecture in Fair Park” will be presented on July 30th at 6 p.m. The program is free for current Preservation Dallas members and $10 for the general public.
Do yourself a favor if you live in Dallas. Take a drive to Fair Park and see the architecture and art in person after the presentation. It’s about the best place in town to enjoy a safe and socially distanced day out. And you’ll get to see something beautiful you probably never knew existed!
