BAlloon Suffragettes

I was channelling the feminine powers of the Suffragettes and all they stand for last Friday. Bristol was snowed under and Lucy and myself had to get to City Hall to build the balloon suffragettes no matter what. The Bristol Women's Voice event was not going to be cancelled on Saturday and we were providing fun and unique balloon sculptures that were to decorate the lobby. The balloons had been bought, the plans were made, we had to make it happen!


Knowing we weren't likely to be able to build them off-site, we were lucky the event at City Hall in the conference room on the Friday was cancelled so we could build the sculptures there. Lucy and I were down an artist, Amanda. She was stuck on the other side of the bridge in Wales unable to get to Bristol. Knowing this, I needed to start building the heads and hats on the Wednesday so all we needed to do was the bodies on the Friday.


I got stuck in the snow twice on the way and luckily with my Canadian driving prowess and snow whispering I was able to get my little 1997 Nissan Micra free and plough on to City Hall. Slow and steady and with a car full of balloon heads I made it to City Hall in good time. Lucy arrived soon after me and we hunkered down and without saying much to each other we twisted for 6 hours straight. Around 3pm City Hall decided they would close early for the day, leaving us with even less time!


In the end we built 5 life-size suffragettes that everyone loved! Even the Mayor of Bristol had his photo taken with them. They stayed up until today, International Women's Day. Feeling very proud and looking forward to the next commission .

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