Larry Moss
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| Larry Moss | |
| Born | September 25, 1970 New York, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Sculpture, Performance |
| Works | Fantastic Flying Octopus (2003) Balloon Manor (2004-) |
Lawrence “Larry” Charles Moss (born September 25, 1970) is an American artist who works mainly with latex balloons. Renowned in his field for his large and technically challenging sculptures, he has orchestrated the creation of several large scale installations in North America and Asia, including a successful Guinness World Record attempt (with fellow artist Royal Sorell) for largest, non-round balloon sculpture, the world's first piloted flying balloon sculpture, and Balloon Manor, a large-scale haunted house made entirely from balloons. Moss is also the founder of one of the first 50 non-academic web sites established on the internet, BalloonHQ.com, a community resource for balloon enthusiasts.
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[edit] Background
Moss grew up in Queens, NY, and attended LaGuardia High School (featured in the movie “Fame”) as a musician. During that time he also learned to juggle and perform magic tricks. He attended the University of Rochester, graduating with degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Education. Moss has worked as a programmer and also performs a science show at elementary schools in Western New York State.
[edit] Major Works
[edit] World Record
Moss & Sorell were commissioned to create a world-record sized balloon sculpture in Belgium in 2000. They designed a scene with two soccer players kicking a ball into a goal. At the time, the sculpture was the largest non-round balloon sculpture in the world. It was constructed with over 40,750 inflated latex balloons. The installation was built without framing, line, or glue using traditional balloon twisting methods. In addition to Moss and Sorell, 42 additional crew members were required to construct the piece. Construction of the sculpture took over 640 man hours. The sculpture stood 25 feet tall and was about 80 feet wide. Each of the soccer players was approximately 40 feet tall.
[edit] World’s First Piloted Balloon Sculpture
In July 2003, Moss orchestrated the creation of the “Fantastic Flying Octopus” a large balloon sculpture piloted by John Ninomiya. A 23-member team of balloon artists, an eight-member flight crew, and countless community members were utilized to build and launch the first ever piloted latex balloon sculpture. Nearly 20,000 twisting balloons were assembled by artists from around the US and Canada to create the Fantastic Flying Octopus. Several thousand people showed up to watch the construction and launch of the cluster balloon craft, in Sodus Bay, NY, which was powered solely by wind and 10,000 cubic feet of helium. Approximately 700 man hours went into the construction of the octopus over a span of 5 days.
[edit] Balloon Manor
Beginning in 2004 and continuing to present day, Moss’s focus became “Balloon Manor” a working haunted house made entirely of balloons. Moss organized professional balloon artists as designers, and community volunteers, to build, promote, and run the haunted house. Each haunted house requires over 100,000 balloons and at least fifty crew members. About 10,000 people visit the house each year.
[edit] Balloon HQ
In 1992, Moss began a small email discussion list for balloon twisters. The list was archived online, and visual content was added in 1994, marking the beginning of BalloonHQ. As internet usage exploded in the late 1990s nearly every serious balloon artist joined the “BalloonHQ Community” prompting Moss to partner with Sheena Beaverson and Mark Balzer to administer the site. Discussions on the site lead to the first balloon twisting convention (T-Jam in 1999), the first international photo contest, and the free dissemination of balloon ideas and designs. Today, in addition to remaining an important industry dialogue, BalloonHQ covers important industry events and offers its members custom portfolios and access to specialized educational material.
[edit] Educator
Larry Moss is also a popular industry educator. He has taught balloon art in Europe, Asia, and America. He is the author of several books and balloon kits.
[edit] Publications
- Climb Inside (paperback, 2007)
- Balloon Architecture (paperback and kit 2007)
- Flying an Octopus: Raising Balloon Art to New Heights (DVD, 2003)
- Balloonicature: The Many Faces of Balloon Art (CD-ROM, 2000)
- Attack of the 50 Foot Demon: Large Scale Balloon Art (CD-ROM, 1999)
- Twisting History: Lessons in Balloon Sculpting (paperback, 1995)
- BalloonHQ.com - founder and lead maintainer of largest balloon art resource on Internet, providing information to 25,000 people weekly (1992 - present)
