About the Artist

Peter John Lindsay was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; later moving to Big Bend, Wisconsin. Growing up with a natural love for the circus and live performances, he taught himself fire eating, magic, escapes and various other circus and sideshow skills. Included in his many varied skills was the art of balloon twisting.

(Below is a photo of Peter John in a leather straight jacket at age 19)

19 years old in a leather straight jacket

In time, it came to be that his skills as a "twister" became the skill most people wanted to see him perform. The skill that he has developed, that some "twisters" don't have, or are unable to use, is his interaction with people - you'll never just get a "Hey kid, you want a balloon dog?" out of him. The person he is twisting for, is always part of the performance.

(below is a photo of Peter John with one of his balloon designs)

Balloon Car

Over the last 25 years, Peter has been perfecting his craft at both twisting balloon creations and doing his live entertainment with balloons by attending balloon conventions, communication with other artists and various media balloon tutorials. He has definitely far surpassed what he would ever have imagined could be done with balloons when he made his first balloon "dog" back in 1986.

(below is an uninflated balloon flower design)

uninflated balloon flower

In 2008, Peter John started making sculptures out of uninflated balloons such as making balloon flowers.

In late 2009, he started to plan on creating something big for a balloon convention that was to be held in Chicago, Illinois in February 2010. His idea was to create his balloon version of George Seurat's painting "Sunday Afternoon on LaGrande Jatte". It would take two years to complete the whole Seurat painting, but he figured the first year he would create the process and show section one. The second year he would consider completing the rest of the image, and then show the finished image at one of the balloon conventions in 2011 under the title of "Pop Art" (Impressions on George Seurat).

When it this piece was shown at the 2010 Chicago balloon convention it caught the attention of the balloon artist community with this "Pop Art" work. Peter John instantly gained notoriety among his peers. The work was then featured in a balloon magazine.

(below is a photo from Peter John's first exhibit February 2010)

What was not known at that time was that events would shape the final form that this piece would take. The day after the balloon convention, Peter John crushed a portion of his right fingers in under 9 tons of pressure in a mechanical hold down in an industrial machine where he was learning to weld. Although there was talk from almost every medical professional of losing the tips of two of his fingers, miracles happened and his fingers are all but as good as they were before. However, with the need to recover the use of his fingers he had a chance to do some thinking. Given the current size ( about 4 x 8 feet) and weight of the piece (94 pounds) he thought he should leave it as it currently is and pursue other artistic endeavors and leave this one so it is still portable.

(below is another photo of another Peter John's inflated balloon designs.)

Today, he continues to entertain, twist inflated balloons, design complex uninflated balloon creations, as well as, write and lecture on balloon related issues.

(Below is a photo of Peter John with his 1957 Austin FX3 London Taxi)

In addition to his balloon art, he currently lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin where he co-mentors a kid's magic club, drives around in his vintage 1957 Austin FX3 London Taxi and still on occasion eats fire and performs other circus sideshow stunts.

(below is another photo of an inflated balloon creation by Peter John)

To see more of his inflated work, please visit his website at: