First Friday

This summer has been our busiest in a while. As a result, we haven't been able to join our fellow artists in the Hungerford for First Friday for the last four months. Finally, we have some down time, and we're excited to be open for this coming First Friday on September 6. We're really looking forward to having time to spend hanging out in the studio with all of the local friends we've made since we've been in the building. If you're in the Rochester area and have some time to visit, we'd love to see a big crowd. The easiest way to see the newest prints that haven't (yet) made it into our online store is to stop by during these open hours. (We've shared lots of photos from The Swing in previous blog posts. It's now available on canvas and will be hanging in the studio this week.) We'll also be showing off photos and videos of the projects that have kept us from First Friday the last few months.

It looks like quite a few other studios will have their doors open too. Visit TheHungerford.com to see who else is around.

First Friday: September 6, 6-9 PM.

Coming up ...

This month will be a slower time for us. The kids are going back to school, giving us a chance to get caught up on work in the studio. And we will really need to get caught up so we can handle the following month.

October will be another one of those really busy months for us. Every October, we participate in Balloons Around the World. Hundreds of balloon artists from around the world spend a day in some public location doing something interesting with balloons for the public. We've done projects the last few years at the National Museum of Play. This year, we're managing to increase the exposure of our project by collaborating with not just one museum, but two. We'll be building a large dragon at the Museum of Play here in Rochester October 5-6, and then packing up the dragon and shipping it to the Brooklyn Children's Museum in New York City. (Note that if you're in Rochester, this is a great weekend to visit the Museum of Play. Our work won't be the only thing there to see. That weekend will be full of monsters and magical creatures. Our good friends Rob Rogalski and Jes Karakashian will also have work on display then.)

As you can imagine, shipping a giant balloon sculpture is going to be a rather unique challenge, both from the design end of creating a shippable sculpture, and then on the transport end for a shipping company, but we're excited about doing this with the partner museums.

Immediately after getting the sculpture in place in Brooklyn, I'll be hopping on a plane to Sacramento, CA to teach at The Balloon Workshop. This is a small, first year convention with an unbelievable instructor lineup. I'll be offering a class on large scale installation art, and one on photography, so hopefully those that learn to do the large scale stuff will also learn to take photos of their installations.

We'll round out the month of October at SUNY Oswego. This will be our third time working with students there to create a family day installation. Students and families will all have an opportunity to pose for photos inside the sculpture. 

What you've all been waiting for ...

It's been five years since the last Balloon Manor took place. Every year, around this time, we're asked if we can bring it back. An installation the size of Balloon Manor is a huge undertaking, consuming time, planning for huge materials use, and organizing a large crew. We've been working on the return of this massive project for a while, and finally ready to announce some dates. The newest incarnation of Balloon Manor will take place in downtown Rochester, NY in the Sibley Building. Construction will take place February 1-4, 2014. The public will be invited to watch the construction. The finished piece will be on display February 5-9.

The format of this Manor will be different from those of the past. We'll be sharing information about that very soon. We're just holding off on sharing too much of what's coming until we've had a chance to review it all with the city safety folks. Until we get them to sign off on our plans, things can still change.

As soon as everything is set, we'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money we need to make this happen. We'll keep everyone posted on that too. We'd love to get your help in making this a reality. And yes, there will be room for volunteers to contribute to the construction.