The History of the Giant Orange Venture

In the fall of 2005, Kathy Allavie, chair of the Art Alliance of the Riverside Art Museum 2006 Spring Project, called a meeting to discuss possible spring 2006 fundraisers. After exploring many ideas, we came up with the idea of doing a public art project, such as the cows in Chicago, the pigs in Seattle, etc., etc. But what to have for Riverside? After much brainstorming, we came up with an orange – certainly not a cute, cuddly creature, but the one thing that most people thought of when they thought of Riverside. (Orange trees were first planted in the area in 1871, but the real claim to fame came when two Brazilian navel orange trees were planted. Eliza Tibbets was given the trees by someone she knew with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The navel orange trees loved the warm, mild climate and began to thrive here. Nearly half of the citrus trees in California were in the Riverside area by 1882. The city prospered because of the growth of the citrus industry.)

Selling the idea of having an orange was a bit difficult until we discovered that New York City had recently done apples. After looking at New York’s wonderful apples, we decided the orange was definitely for us.

San Luis Obispo had recently done “trout” and, in visiting their website, we noted that the fabricator they used was Cowpainters, a company out of Chicago, owned and operated by women. We immediately contacted them and began exploring the fabrication of a giant orange. We also consulted with, and had guidebooks from, several other cities such as Belfast, Maine and their help was invaluable. 

One of our Art Alliance members, Karen Smarr, who, although she claims she’s uncreative, came up with our wonderful name, The Giant Orange Artventure. It said it all – oranges, LARGE ORANGES, and an adventure.

We then developed a sponsor packet and an artist packet. We contacted Gary Rainsbarger, a local artist, and asked him to design a logo for our project.   His orange crate label concept was perfect -- historical, artsy, and fun.   

We developed a potential sponsor list and began setting up appointments with those on the list. We had no idea of how difficult it might be to sell our $5,000 oranges, but the community welcomed us wholeheartedly. Everyone we approached was very excited about our project. In a very short time, we sold not 30 but 32 giant oranges.

Meanwhile, in response to our Call for artists, we received so many wonderful designs for the giant oranges. Some sponsors requested their favorite artist submit a design for them and some designs were submitted in response to our Call. All designs were juried, and we were off and running.  And, what wonderful, exciting, creative designs we have – historical, abstract, thought provoking, whimsical – you name it – we have it.

All oranges were delivered to the artists in early January and they are now hard at work painting their oranges. In late April all oranges will be taken to be cleared coated and back to Burgess Moving and Storage until our June 1 Premier Party in White Park.

On June 1 all 32 oranges will be at White Park for our Giant Orange Artventure Premier Party and a few days after that will be installed in their public viewing location in the downtown Riverside Mile Square area. They will be on public display until the end of September, 2006. There will be orange walks, orange lectures, and more during the public display period.

At the end of September oranges will be picked up from their public viewing location and delivered to their participating sponsor if the sponsor intends to keep their orange. All oranges not kept by sponsors will be transported back into storage for our October 13, 2006, public auction. 

 All profits from the Giant Orange Artventure will benefit the Riverside Art Museum and their programs.