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Fort Christmas
About the Artwork
The Orphan is one of a small collection of bronze sculptures from the artist, acquired by Orange County for their historic significance from his only daughter, Betty Wheeler Bass, whose family has been part of the town of Fort Christmas for generations. The Orphan is a sculpture of a cowboy seated on a horse with a pack across his lap, as if traveling alone.
About the Artist
Hughlette “Tex” Wheeler
At an early age, Hughlette Wheeler began drawing and carving horses and cows from wood and beeswax. Around 1925 family and friends of the Fort Christmas area helped to send Wheeler to live with his cousin in Ohio so that he could attend the Cleveland School of Art. He excelled, exhibiting and selling several pieces while in school. It was there that he became known as “Tex” since he always wore boots, jeans and a cowboy hat. Upon graduation in 1929, he won the Matzen Scholarship to study a year in Paris. His work became well known in the horse world and wealthy horse owners hired him to portray their thoroughbred quarter horses and polo horses. During the 1930’s and early 1940’s, Wheeler created a life-size bronze sculpture of renowned racehorse Seabiscuit, and his jockey, George Woolf, which stands at the Santa Anita Race Track in California and also lived at Will Rogers’ ranch while creating two famous sculptures of humorist Will Rogers and his horse, Soapsuds. During World War II, he was unable to get the raw materials needed to sculpt, so Wheeler returned to Florida and made a living making signs and moved to California in the late 1940s. In 1950, he returned to Fort Christmas, Florida and continued to sculpt, despite debilitating arthritis, until his death in 1954.
Did you know?
The famous Florida Highwaymen school of art is represented with an enlargement of a Harold Newton painting on the side of OUC's Reliable Plaza
Discover Art in Central Florida!
For those who have eyes to see, there are hundreds of works of art around them.
This web site provides some information on many of those works of art that can
be regularly viewed in Orange County by any member of the public without an
admission fee. They are outside in public view, or located in an interior area
that is normally open to the public.
Look around this web site and find something that interests you. Then go see it
in person. The information you find here will add to the pleasure of exploring
public art in Central Florida.
If, in your travels around Orange County, you come across some public art that
is not listed here, please let us know so we can add it. If you are aware of
additional information about art or artist that is included here, again, please
let us know. Together we can make this an incredible resource for people seeking
to spice up their life through exploring art.