
Portland-based Gary Houston is well known as the “Blues Fest” poster artist of Portland and for his illustration company, Voodoo Catbox. Houston’s posters are handmade using traditional methods like scratchboard illustration or hand cut Rubylith, and then hand pulled. Since 1995, Houston has humbly operated under the moniker of Voodoo Catbox, a well-known entity in the poster industry. But he is most well known as the signature artist for the Portland Blues Festival, which his unique scratch-board style has become the timeless branding of the festival since 2001. Houston calls the work he does as: hands-on, physical, creative and romantic. “It’s leaving a little bit of history,” Houston told Oregon Music News in 2009.
Besides the Waterfront Blue Festival, Houston has done work for: Oregon Music Hall of Fame, Portland Art Museum, Crystal Ballroom (with Northwest acts like Mel Brown, The Decemberists, Robert Cray, The Dandy Warhols, Sallie Ford and Death Cab For Cutie). “Inspired by the music and musicians themselves as well as Northwest Native American art, Houston’s work often contains a message and humor, but it wouldn’t be rock and roll without eagles and skulls and flaming guitars,” writes Vortex magazine of Houston’s body of work.
Houston has always been a notable artist of his craft, locally and nationally, doing visual works for such national acts as: Willie Nelson, Ben Harper, Moonalice, Steve Martin, Little Feat, Los Lobos, The Grateful Dead, Social Distortion, David Byrne, The Black Crowes, Wilco, and many others.
Moonalice posters by Gary Houston
- M420 ♦ Commemorative 2011 East Coast Fall Tour silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M466 › 4/20/12 Tribal Pow-Wow at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M481 › 6/03/12 Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival, Sunnyvale, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M570 ♦ 4/20/13 Tribal Pow-Wow at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M595 › 5/11/13 Mt. Tabor Theater, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M630 › 8/23/13 Eugene Celebration, Eugene, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M650 › 10/24/13 Alhambra Theatre, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M678 ♦ 4/20/14 Gathering of the Tribe at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M700 › 5/2/14 Wonder Ballroom, Portland, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M727 › 7/25/14 Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock, NY by Gary Houston
- M742 › 8/16/14 Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, OH poster by Gary Houston
- M763 › 10/23/14 Alhambra Theatre, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M778 › 12/20/14 Slim’s, San Francisco, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M795 ♦ 4/19/15 Gathering of the Tribe at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M821 › 5/09/15 The Barn, Levon Helm’s Studio, Woodstock, NY poster by Gary Houston
- M835 › 6/12/15 Alhambra Theatre, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M846 › 7/12/15 Ritz Sauna & Showers, Veneta, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M875 › 10/11/15 Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M876 › Oregon Fall Tour 2015 silkscreen poster by Gary Houston with David Nelson Band
- M893 ♦ 4/20/16 420 Gathering of the Tribe, Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M944 ♦ 4/20/17 420 Gathering of the Tribe, Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M969 › 5/12/17 In Memory of Dave Hunter at Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M987 › 6/16/17 Analog Theater, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M990 ♦ 6/21/17 Surrealistic Summer Solstice Jam at Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster Alexandra Fischer, Chris Shaw, & Gary Houston
- M1023 ♦ 4/20/18 420 Gathering of the Tribe at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M1065 › 7/27/18 McMenamins Mission Theater & Pub, Portland, OR poster by Gary Houston
- M1089 ♦ 4/20/19 420 Gathering of the Tribe, Slim’s, San Francisco, CA silkscreen poster by Gary Houston
- M1124 › 7/3/19 Union Square Live, San Francisco, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M1159 › 11/15/19 Fernwood Tavern, Big Sur, CA poster by Gary Houston
- M11xx › 7/25/20 Full Moonalice poster by Gary Houston – Cancelled
Roger McNamee posters by Gary Houston
- R36 › 9/17/15 Zodiacs, Petaluma, CA poster by Gary Houston
- R45 › 10/3/15 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA poster by Gary Houston
- R84 › 7/30/16 Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, OH poster by Gary Houston
- R105 › 5/13/18 Sweetwater Music Hall, Mill Valley, CA poster by Gary Houston
- R15x › DDSQ 6/12/20 The Hog Farm Hangout, Black Oak Ranch, Laytonville, CA poster by Gary Houston – Cancelled
- R154 › 10/30/20 Solano County Fairgrounds, Vallejo, CA poster by Gary Houston
Art & Political posters by Gary Houston
- 9/14/16 I’m Wanker Doodle Dandy poster by Gary Houston (2-sided)
- Prop 64 #4 › 11/3/16 Proposition 64 poster by Gary Houston
- P12 › 4/23/20 Corona Virus 2020 poster by Gary Houston