Jessa

Art at it's best is a blend of science and imagination to tell a truth. Jessa's art tells a truth that is overlooked by most of us. The truth of a great beauty and a terrible extinction in our own time.
Jessa creates beautiful large scale paintings of insects and is the only artist I know that saved a species of life by painting it. A story others can tell better than I. Jessa is my favorite artist, my hero and my friend. Jessa inspired me to create The Inflatable Studio.

The painting in the photo is the copyright of Jessa & I had her permission to take this photo.

The Last Shot

This is the last photo of the original version of The Inflatable Studio. Moments after I took this photo I broke down the studio. This took place on the 29th of July, 2007 at The Holden Art Farm in Johnson County Missouri. Imagine this version as the caterpillar and the next version will be the butterfly.
My plan was to have The Inflatable Studio up and running by my 50th birthday. I'm a year ahead of my plan. I turned 49 on the 25th of July, 2007. Thanks again Eli for the push.

The Robert I & Robert A; Project

My father; Robert I Vollrath and myself; Robert A Vollrath rebuilt this trailer after ten years of sitting in the backyard rusting. The trailer bed was rotten wood full of ants and termites.
The week before the Holden Art Farm Garden Party we got this far with the trailer.
Three ten mile round trips to set up and three ten mile round trips to break down is 40 miles to many. The mileage should have been 20 miles round trip. Thanks dad for the trailer and all your support for The Inflatable Studio.

A Fan to Far

This photo was taken the day of the Holden Art Farm Garden Party. There I am, the artist with my hand through a four foot rip in the studio. On July 28th in 95 degree heat the tape started to melt from the plastic. Inside the studio it was over 100 degrees. People keep leaving the door open either to let out the heat or for the shear fun of watching the studio deflate. My friend and I were using three of the four fans to inflate the studio faster. I walked away from the studio and told my friend to be sure to turn off the third fan or "the bag would blow". It wasn't my friend's fault the four foot rip appeared a couple of minutes later. My warning sounded like a joke and I should have turned the fan off myself. I did have fun patching the gapping hole in the studio and I'm not sure why.

Eli's Simple Fix

A few minutes after Eli Pupovac posed for this picture in front of a two thirds inflated air bag. The Inflatable Studio rips loose from the entrance and goes airborne for a short time. This happens two more times and Eli comes up with a simple solution to fix the problem. Wind and the heat turn the big bag into a short term hot air balloon. This all happens on the 27th of July and by the next day I had that problem fixed. Eli's fix of a better seal around the entrance, more weight inside the studio and running two fans instead of four seemed to take care of all my problems.

Austin's Silver Circle

My friend Austin puts a silver circle on The Inflatable Studio as he uses a spray can for the first time in his life. After this he tackles Eli's Graffiti Cubes. Austin's mom took this photo.

Orb of the Id

The Orb of the Id is the piece of art that took the most damage during the show. When the studio deflated the fragile orb was crushed. Seen here after some repair work, the orb needs a new paint job.