This post is the first in a series that will cover some currently active, publicly viewable outsider art installations in San Antonio. We’re starting with Samuel Mirelez because he passed away on September 17 after a long battle with cancer, and the work may only be viewable for a short time. In the coming days we’ll cover Rev. Seymour Perkins and Ed Clark. All photos by Justin Parr.

As with all the artists we’ll be looking at in this series, Samuel Mirelez began his work as a gesture of love. Finding himself in a state of poverty, and with a wedding anniversary fast approaching, Mirelez decided to craft a gift for his wife out of Folger’s coffee cans. Despite the humble materials, the gift was ambitious: a bird house modeled after the San Fernando Cathedral, where the couple wed. The gift was a success, but the choice of materials took its toll; soon, the bird house began to rust and deteriorate. Seeing his wife’s dismay, Mirelez vowed to build a new San Fernando bird house, this time out of aluminum. Soon he found himself building bird houses for his children, his friends, and his coworkers. And he kept building them. He modeled bird houses after castles, Spanish missions, even the White House and the Kremlin. Eventually his yard, front and back, became a permanent installation of avian domiciles (though, strangely, with very few birds):

Bird houses by Samuel Mirelez

Although he switched to rust-proof metals, he continued to use found materials for all his houses: left over aluminum siding, scraps of wood, and anything else he could find, or that friends would give him. On a recent visit to the Mirelez house, we even spotted a transparent bird house:

Transparent bird house by Samuel Mirelez

The pieces also became less functional over the years, although they retained an architectural focus. Note this large piece with no walls, but architectural features including arches, spires, and friezes.
Bird houses by Samuel Mirelez

One of Mirelez’ early projects was to build bird house models of all the Spanish missions in San Antonio. This is a project he repeated several times over. The first and only time I met Samuel Mirelez, he gave me a tour of the installation and recounted one of his favorite stories. He once sent an avian White House to then-Governor George Bush. Before long, he received a thank you note, including a photo of George and Laura Bush standing in front of the sculpture. Bush became a fan of Mirelez’ work, and one year the Christmas decorations in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin included the entire series of San Antonio mission bird houses. Mirelez was invited to attend the Christmas party, and not long after he received an invitation to the inauguration of a newly-elected (are we going to split hairs here?) President Bush.

If you want to visit the Samuel Mirelez bird house installation in San Antonio, . I’d suggest checking it out soon, because it is unclear what his family will do with the collection. His bird houses are also carried by Yard Dog gallery in Austin and Marfa. (Although there are rumors that Yard Dog is purchasing the entire collection, this is not true.)

Here are a few more pictures:

Bird houses by Samuel Mirelez

Bird houses by Samuel Mirelez

Bird houses by Samuel Mirelez

Bird houses by Samuel Mirelez

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