Lisa Ballard + daughter’s prom
April 13, 2009
Once upon a time… there was a lonely artist who defined herself in high school as the “School Artist”. Destined to design and decorate the dances rather than attend them, this anti-social goob secretly reveled in the pre-production glee of painting backdrops, designing posters and transforming drab gymnasiums into fairy tales…
Well, Lisa Ballard, the fair maiden, grew up to be the mother of a princess, and once again she was able to fulfill her secret passion. The tale begins last year when Lisa and her daughter were approached by the chairperson of decorations for her daughter’s school. She came with a theme that fulfilled Lisa’s wildest dreams, a winter dance titled, “Happily Ever After”!
Immediately, Lisa envisioned icicles, snowballs, snowflakes and crowns galore. But how could they produce a winter wonderland with a very limited budget? Inspired by the concept of transforming common everyday objects and materials into works of art, she began creating snowball garlands using string and poly- fill along with tin foil for ice balls and ice flowers. When looking for something to use for white paper garland, her eyes landed on a roll of paper towels. She unrolled the paper towels in a long line, folded them and frayed the sides. When she unrolled and twisted them, they looked like snowy feathered crepe paper streamers! She was having fun now. Next, she needed a central chandelier piece for the room. She knew her husband, who works in an auto body shop, could get her large sheets of corrugated cardboard that she could use for a crown, a throne and a forest of snowy trees. With a little paint, glitter and creative cutting, the dance decorations would come to life.
The most inspiring part of this project was working with the kids. Lisa created prototypes for all the parts of the decorations and showed the student council committee how to make them. The kids took off and were a production machine. In one day, they had all the garlands, snowflakes and icicles completed. On the morning of setup, the kids worked, under the art direction of Lisa, and transformed their cafeteria and gymnasium into a winter wonderland where they danced “Happily Ever After”!
