Balloon HQ home BalloonHQ.com membership - support balloon education
 
The Guide | Photos | Videos | Columns | Calendar
Artist Directory | Classified Ads | Who's Who
Entertainer Forum | Decorator Forum | Recipes

Archive of Past Columns and Features


more search options

Miscellaneous Ramblings

by Larry Moss

A Special Goodbye

Linda Bruce
Linda Bruce
We are a small, tightly knit community, all getting to know each other through words and photos online, and in person at a few key events throughout the year. When something happens to one member of that community, it affects all of us. Only a few months ago, we learned that Linda Bruce, a long time member of the community and teacher to many of us was suffering from pancreatic cancer. We also learned just how much love our world-wide community has for Linda. After suffering for some time, Linda passed away on June 5, 2009. Her physical presence will be greatly missed by all of us, but she'll never be gone from our hearts and memories. She was a great friend to all of us. Louie, Eryn, and Frank, we're all thinking of you right now as well.

Up

Those of us in the balloon industry sometimes forget how wonderous our medium is. We know how we can transform events with our balloons. We know we can create smiles. But to many of us, they're just the tools we use to create atmosphere. Even without our help, that one simple balloon is still incredibly powerful and stimulates imagination. Pixar's Up just opened in theaters a few days ago, giving us an opportunity to see how a group of animators and story-tellers could create a tale around latex rubber balloons and how they play into the emotions of a handful of fictional characters. They aren't just objects used through the movie, but the subject of key memories these character's hold. Watching the movie reminded me of the first time I was given a balloon animal (a giraffe made from one balloon), and even earlier, the first helium balloons I received. These weren't just toys, but important objects to me that I held carefully for the short time I knew I'd have them. I can remember every few hours cutting small pieces of string from helium balloons to remove weight and ensure they could float longer. I wanted the string long enough that I could reach it while the sat on the ceiling, but short enough that the weight didn't pull it down.

BalloonHQ has been buzzing with talk about Up. Rather than write more about the movie, I'll direct people to the great write-up by Steve Jones. I started thinking about other major appearances of balloons in pop culture and their purpose and impact on the audience that viewed them, and, ultimately, the audience that views our work. Quite a few references to balloons in pop culture appear in the BHQ Guide to Balloons and Ballooning. I'll highlight a few of my favorites here.

The first is one I saw when I was fairly small. It was the short film, The Red Balloon (1956), about a sentient red balloon that befriends a small boy. I must have seen it 30 years ago, and I still have clear memories of the balloon following the boy between home and school, and the cluster of helium balloons that eventually carry the boy into the air. I was amused to learn that John Ninomiya, a cluster balloonist that I had the privelege of working with a few years ago, credits this movie with his interest in flying latex balloons.

Next is Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm, a children's book that came out in 1998 and was turned into a TV movie by Disney a year later. A farmer, Harvey Potter, grows balloons. He doesn't grow rubber trees, but plants that actually produce balloons, already inflated and formed into animal shapes.

Patch Adams, released the same year as Harvey Potter, was a movie based on the life of Hunter "Patch" Adams. Patch is a doctor that believes that humor therapy is an important part of medical treatment. While this movie isn't about balloons, they are featured prominently in a couple of scenes. We see the balloons being used, not just as a backdrop, but as something used to cheer up sick patients.

I'm sure everyone else in the balloon world has their own favorites. It may be a movie with incredible wedding decor, or a movie containg a birthday party clown that makes everyone smile with balloons. What's important is that balloons have universal appeal. I know I'll keep working on more creative uses for them in my art.

Featured artist portfolio: Diana Smith, LollyPop the Clown

Bowling Centerpiece by Diana Smith
Bowling Centerpiece by Diana Smith
Balloon Slippers by Diana Smith
Balloon Slippers by Diana Smith

Diana Smithi of Villa Ridge, MO has posted a number of cute creations to her portfolio recently. Also known as LollyPop the Clown, she has made sculptures pulling inspiration from other talented artists while putting her own ideas into the creation.

Visit the portfolio of Diana Smith


Balloon HQ home
Contact Us | Member Services | BHQ History
Advertisers/Sponsors | Editors | Contributors
Content Copyright