BACI - Balloon Arts Convention Italy - The Sculpture Competitions

This year BACI took centre stage at the 76th edition of 'Art', the International Arts & Crafts Exhibition at the Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy.

BACI

The theme for BACI 2012 was ARTS & CRAFTS throughout history (in Italy “Arti & Mestieri”)…from the Big Bang to Bunga Bunga, from the gladiator to the aviator, Christopher Columbus to Barak Obama, from Leonardo da Vinci to Albert Einstein, from poets to astronauts, Buffalo Bill to Bill Gates, from rain dancersto lap dancers!

The large sculpture competitions are an integral part of BACI, where there are two catagories:

Championship Master for those people who have won an Italian or Internationally recognized competitions, and the BACI Championships, which is open to anyone who wants to create a large sculpture at BACI and does not fall into the Championship Master category.

(to view the complete rules follow this link: The Rules)

This is quite an unusual competition, as it is a requirement that  BACI instructors compete and create their very own large sculpture... and if you know anything about me, you will know that large sculptures are not my speciality and if I am really honest, I find them very daunting!

Why? I suppose the shear scale, the mechanics and structure, timings... give me a centrepiece any day!!

I have spent the past year or so trying to overcome my 'fear' of creating large sculptures, I attended Luc Bertrand's Sculpture Course which I found extremely helpful and sought advise and help from some of the best sculpture artists in our industry. Rodney Fisher gave me some really great help regarding frame building and working with Fiona & Rodney Fisher on their amazing Titanic sculpture really gave me the confidence to tackle my own large sculpture!

I started my preparation many months ago, when I was informed that the sculpture theme was 'Arts & Crafts'. I knew instantly that I wanted to build a 'Tiffany' style lamp and that the lamp really would fit well within the theme "Arts & Crafts".

The Tiffany Lamp that I used for my sculptures inspiration.

It would allow me to work with the Qualatex Starpoint and Taper balloons which I really wanted to do (for the colours, textures and of course the shapes, which for me look like the cut glass used within a Tiffany lamp).

I spent many many hours designing and preparing. I practised many of the techniques that I wanted to use, like heat sealing foil balloons to create new 'custom' shapes rather than leaving new techniques to chance during the 24 hour build time and potentially running into problems!

I experimented with colour and created some really great and intense colours using the double stuffing method, Pearl Sapphire Blue inside Sapphire Blue, for a truly intense shiny Sapphire Blue, Chocolate Brown inside Gold for the metal work, Onyx Black inside Sapphire Blue, all worked really well when used with the shiny texture of a Microfoil balloon!

The Competition

The competitions officially started on Thursday 19th at 2pm, when teams had 6 hours to  check their product and build frames and structures... but no balloons could be inflated until 8am the next day, not all the competitors used framework in their sculptures... so a few found other things to 'amuse' themselves during this time!

Robbie Furman's Thursday afternoon 'creation'.

I have made a short video that really shows all the stages of the sculpture building from start to completion, it's amazing to see how each of the sculptures evolved...  I hope you enjoy it!

I can honestly say that I really 'enjoyed' building my sculpture. I worked with a truly great team, who embraced every task they were given, including double stuffing many many 100's  of 5" balloons and the continuous layering of 'Balloon Shine' they had to apply - a tip that Fiona Fisher shared with me when we were working on the Titanic to ensure that the balloons remained really shiny and to protect them to!  I would also like to give a huge personal thank you to Peter Berggreen from Denmark, who not only volunteered to help me build my sculpture a number of months ago, but also spent many weeks learning how to 'Tak' weave to create the column for the lamp... and he did an amazing job and to Linda Ceccon  from Sweden who worked as part of my team last year and came back for a second year to help me!

Peter at work!

The Teams

"Leonart"

Alessandro Patane

Monica Pengo

Leonarda Rombi

Roberta Scionis

Alfio Sapia

Simona Carbone

Pasquale Cinotti

Jamaica Longo

Elenora Gori

" Buon Compleanno Balloon Express"

Dmitry Tishenko

Olga Kosova

Svetlana Kolyvantseva

Elena Monshnikova

Yuliya Andreyyeva

Vadim Shushkanov

Alexandr Solomatin

Olga Boranova

Olga Samoilova

Maxim Tsymbal

"MIIII..... Che Pasticcio!!"

Enza Mondello

Leo Mondello

Valter Saladino

Matilde Tortorici

Elisacetta Bennardo

Cristina Mura

Tiziana Arena

Lara Maratta

Antonino Saracino

Maria Vittorio

Barak O Barak

Manon Dudziac

Ester Cuono

Stefano Cammisa

"She has Sung"

Robbie Furman

Graziella Onano

Massimo Armando

Pasqualina Simonelli

Valeria Fraschini

Massimo Coello

Antonella Fanelli

Angela Casaccia

"The Lamp - Inspired by Tiffany"

Sue Bowler

John Bowler

Anna Elisabetta Auletta

Iris Ball

Davide Mercurio

Andrea Papolino

Peter Berggreen

Milena Raino

Anna Paladini

Linda Ceccon

"Balloon Artist at Work"

Fiona Fisher

Rodney Fisher

Carmel Galea

Sharon Galea

Cristina Mura

Angelo De Francesco

Kerenina Lykins

Ben Lavis

" Anonimus"

Alberto Falcone

Simone Falcone

Luisa Verlezza

Roberto Cataldi

Lucia Frezzaroli

Tiziana Zanero

Loriana Liuzza

Fabio Valentini

Ludmila Mek'nik

Andre De Olivera

Alberto Nava

"Anyone Can Cook!"

Alberto Nava

Milko Stefani

Teresa Antinoro

Mirko Laporta

"IL Coraggio Del Toro"

Federico Onida

Carlo Vavenotti

Veronica Onida

Ester Onida

Massimo Castangia

Mauriizio Aru

Cristina Usai

"Grandma"

Keith Stirman

Tanya Joselowsky

Elisa Helman

Marina Ferranti

Svetlana Lugovaya

" The Temple"

Howard

Hui Chuan Huang

Kuan Chuana Chen

Hsiu Chung Chen

Ling Hua Hsiao

Keng Hung Lu

Chia Chang Chan

Yuan Chang Cheng

Shu Chuan Chen

Ya Ting Chang

"Essere O Non Essere Superdany"

Elisa D'Onorio

Emanuelle Del Vescovo

Alessandra Romano

Nicola Catanzani

Sara Zampini

Anna Di Febo

"Wow"

Yi Wei Chen

Sheng Tang Lee

Kou Yi Lee

Chia Chiano Lee

Jiun Kang Shiu

Yueh Shuan Lee

Meichun Chan

Cheuk Lam Leung

Hsuan Chun Lin

Yu Li Sun

If you have never worked on a large sculpture, I strongly recommend that you do. It is a huge learning experience and a great way to meet new people, and you never know, one day you might be building your own large sculpture!

I would like to thank The Darkroom, for taking and sharing such great photographs www.thedarkroom.it and to Balloon Express for hosting another great BACI!

Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you enjoyed it!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

How Tope Abulude designed the 'Very Best Balloon Show on Earth' Costume Party!

I would like to start this blog by declaring that I am totally in awe and full of respect for all those who design and create amazing large sculptures and large scale decor for parties! The amount of pre-planning and work involved is incredible and should never be underestimated!

Many months ago, Qualatex threw down the gauntlet and sent out a Worldwide Challenge to balloon artists offering them the opportunity to create the party decor that "only dreams are made of," where the balloons are unlimited and you have a full staff to bring it all to life!

What an amazing opportunity, but how does someone even start to plan for a party such as this?

Tope with Norma Roberts

10 years ago there was a young man from London, England called Tope Abulude, CBA of Balloon Inspirations, who did just that, and back then, he created the Medieval themed Thursday night costume Party at IBAC (International Balloon Arts Convention.)  I remember It well as I also worked on this party creating King & Queen "Dance floor Darlings."

Once again Tope rose to the challenge and was declared the winning designer to create this year Thursday night costume party at the World Balloon Convention 2012 -

'The Very Best Balloon Show on Earth'!

How do start the designing process for a party such as this Tope?

"The design process is usually the more interesting aspect for me...I approach room design (regardless of how big it is) like it's a big centrepiece design. Then I will treat each component like they are centrepieces in their own rights. It's always back to design basics for me. The elements and principles of design are my anchor, so using space, colour, line, form etc. and how these come together in unity, harmony, rhythm, proportion to each other to define the final whole of whatever project I work on. I think taking the time to understand these fundamentals of design, and the application is what makes the difference between a decorator and a designer in any art form.Once I had submitted my drawings, I decided I was going to enjoy the journey/process this time around".

Tope was asked to submit sketches to depict decor for the following areas of the party.

Detailed sketches of specific decor elements fitting the circus theme for each of these areas: 

1.        Entrance/foyer 

2.        Stage/backdrop, including sides of stage and video screens 

3.        Ceiling treatments (ceiling height: 17 feet) 

4.        Room perimeter/focal point decor 

5.        Table arrangements for buffets/centerpieces 

6.        Special effects 

7.        Photo backdrops 

Here are a few of Tope's original sketches!

How did this party differ from the one that you did 10 years ago?

"I overworked myself during the preparation and I couldn't enjoy the party 10 years ago, ( I didn't even bring my own costume to Chicago.) This time I paced myself better and I was more organised.

I focused on my strengths and I chose to delegate a lot more than I did 10 years ago.
I arrived in Dallas early to start work on the Monday. I took breaks when I needed, and I had a fantastic team around me and a good project manager."

Tope selected the Polka Dots & Dots Bubble (15608) to create his colour palette for the party!

Here are a few photographs from the early stages of prep...

Tope's amazing team at work!

more Monkey's! 

Tope's awesome team!

The Party!

It's great to see that so many people dressed up! It really does create the best party atmosphere...

I asked some of the newly qualified CBA delegates from the World Balloon Convention to tell me some of their WBC highlights, as you can see the party featured very highly!

"The costume party. The decor by Tope was fun and rich and it was great to see everyone parting and just having a good time"!   -  Malachi Robinson CBA

"The Gala and Circus decorating was amazing"! -  Tracy Hawes CBA

"The WOW Factor of all the Decor, I have only seen in magazines and online - it was so much more impressive and the techniques were easier to comprehend". - Amanda Pierce CBA

"Circus theme party and Gala dinner where everyone dressed up for the occasion"! - Annabelle Claire Tan CBA

"Helping to build the decor for the special events". - Elaine Holmes CBA

"Blown away by the Circus theme, absolutely fantastic"! - John Brew CBA

The awesome Clown entrance arches!!!

The 'Big Top' and Clown Head...

'Circus' Stage Wall

Looking across the room

Room decor with the stage 'Circus' wall and some very cool lighting!

Fantastic costumes!

Guess who... this IS Ted & Betty Vlamis... looking great!

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Tope Abulude and his amazing team, the decor and party was truly awesome. I would also like to thank Tope for sharing such great information, his early plans & details on how he worked to create yet another truly memorable event!

Tope Abulude CBA,  Balloon Inspirations, London, UK

Tope has asked me to to add his own personal thanks to the following people: 

"I would like to thank contributing artists Cam Woody, Keith Stirman, Dom Cassidy, Connie Iden-Mounds, Dmitriy Tishenko, Andrey Osokin and David Debustos,  the WBC staff and Volunteers (too long a list to name) and it was a pleasure to work with Nick Otis (and his team) and LaDonna Belcher".

Before I started to write this blog, I truly wondered how you would even begin to start planning for an event on this scale? I would also have said that my own personal creativity comes in 'small, easy to handle packages', any bigger and I feel totally out of my comfort zone! However, I really liked how Tope says that he treats all his jobs like a big centrepiece design and builds each component of the decor in a similar way... wow, that really makes sense...hmm, maybe I could one day design decor on a large scale?

Well, I am off to 'BACI'-  Balloon Arts Convention Italy, where I will be making a large sculpture with 'Team Bowler'! I am hoping that they will have 'livecam' during the sculpture build again this year (Friday 20th April & Saturday 21st April), if they have, I'll make sure that I post it on the Qualatex Facebook Group page!

See you soon with some great new blogs!

Happy ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com