Balloon artist seeks Guinness World Record

INDIANAPOLIS — Brian Getz has dreamed a lot lately about a dragonfly — one with a wingspan of 88 feet.

Getz is a balloon artist with big dreams. The Indianapolis resident hopes his latest project will break a Guinness World Record.

Getz and a team of volunteers, many of them fellow balloon artists, have worked all week at the Indiana State Museum to piece together a sculpture of an Anax junius, a common green darner dragonfly.

"It's been on my bucket list, since I was 16," he said of his dream of a world record. "I just set a goal for myself. I feel I finally have the logistics and skill to finally go ahead and do it."

Getz, who is getting sponsorship help from the Betallatex balloon company, says he used 6,813 balloons — and spent about $2,000 of his own money — before the 100-pound sculpture was raised 40 feet into the air on Friday.

The common green darner dies only a few weeks after reaching adulthood. Getz's sculpture has a similar life span, because the balloons eventually lose air: It will be on display only through Thursday.

Before the dragonfly sculpture was raised, careful measurements were taken to send to the Guinness people to see whether it has set a new record.

Getz has tough competition to beat. Adam Lee set the record for largest balloon sculpture in 2011, when he built a giant spider with nearly 3,000 balloons.

This isn't the first time Getz has made large balloon sculptures. He has created projects for corporate clients through his company, www.BriansBalloons.com, including a World War I biplane, a dinosaur, and a roller coaster. He's even built a 30-foot-tall replica of the Thunderbirds 3 rocketship for the State Museum last year for a 50th anniversary celebration of the 1960s British sci-fi show.

Later this summer, Getz will make a balloon replica of a Big Top for the museum's summer theme camp about circuses.

David McDaniel, manager of interpretive and performing arts programs at the State Museum, said the dragonfly balloon project has created a strong buzz all week from museumgoers.

The choice of a common green darner was a natural one, he said, since it's native to Indiana and found right outside the museum, along the Downtown Canal.