Deanna Hoak

10 Responses to “Balloon Manor”  

1. 1 Mary Robinette Kowal Oct 22nd, 2006 at 5:37 am

   That is some serious balloon action. I wonder how often they have to replace the balloons.

2. 2 Shsilver Oct 22nd, 2006 at 8:20 am

   Saw that on CNN yesterday afternoon. Fortunately Elaine and Melanie were close enough that they got to see the piece. It looks so amazingly cool. Thanks for the link.

3. 3 john Oct 22nd, 2006 at 9:33 am

   Thanks for the link. My aunt lives in that town and my son goes to college on the oposite side of Rochester. I sent him the link. I hope he gets a chance to get over there. I’m headed to Clearwater today though. I’ll try calling him when my plane gets in. Thanks again, John
   Johnwrt1@yahoo.com

4. 4 Marsha Oct 22nd, 2006 at 10:08 am

   That tree is seriously cool. Now I wish I lived closer….

5. 5 Jason Erik Lundberg Oct 22nd, 2006 at 11:02 am

   Wow!

6. 6 Chris Roberson Oct 22nd, 2006 at 1:24 pm

   That is crazy!

7. 7 John Oct 23rd, 2006 at 8:47 pm

   Talked to my son Sunday. He will check the place out if he can get away from his video games for a few hours. I’ll bug him again later this week. Deanna, did the website work ok this time?

8. 8 John Oct 23rd, 2006 at 8:50 pm

   Ok so I can’t type my own livejournal name …

9. 9 Deanna Hoak Oct 23rd, 2006 at 8:50 pm

   Yes, it worked. :-)

10. 10 Shonda Ranson Oct 27th, 2006 at 9:52 am

    Hello, Deanna:

    Thanks for mentioning Balloon Manor on your blog. My name is Shonda Ranson and I am the Chair of the Board for the Greater Rochester Jaycees, who are the main sponsors of the event. I worked with Larry in 2004 when we first did the project and was part of the planning team over the past 2 years to do this one. I thought that I would respond to some of your questions here…

    We built the manor in just 5 days. There were around 50 artists from all over the world, and around 200 volunteers from the local community. The balloons are designed for exhibiting and made by Qualatex. They do shrink over time, but the walls and items are made extra-tall in the beginning to allow for some shrinking. Additionally, we closed on Monday and Tuesday to do repairs on the walls and gates and areas that take more abuse from the tours and tourguides.

    It takes about 30 minutes to walk through the entire manor and there are new pieces being added every day as artists stay on site and continue to use their imagination, so each time someone tours on a different day, they see different things.

    The sculptures actually last until the balloons soften. A piece that I had from October 2004 lasted until December before the elasticity of the balloons finally gave. On site, we also have balloon kits for people to do their own twisting when they get home, and we’re hoping to have new, budding artists to help out for next year.

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