About MAGIC

With this image you are invited to a mythical morning at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The original oil painting, titled MAGIC, is composed of five panels, which together measure six feet tall and twenty feet wide. MAGIC was conceived, painted, and exhibited for the largest art competition in the world, Art Prize, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This 2012 event attracted 1,517 artists from 56 countries and 45 states, and over 350,000 visitors.

Understanding the power of historical images, Jane created MAGIC as a historical narrative. In it are authentic balloons and ballooning celebrities with wonderful stories. To gain permission to portray specific balloons and people, she contacted balloonists, and families of balloonists, from around the United States, and indeed the world.

Hot air balloons come in traditional and special shapes. You will find many examples here. Making an appearance in panel 2 is the ghost of the first practical hot-air balloon, invented by the Montgolfier brothers, and flown in 1783 for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Now, if you look ahead into panel 4, on the left side, you will see a gold and red balloon from the Lorraine region in France. It is now flown by Phillipe Denis Buron Pilatre, who is the seventh generation descendant from the pilot of the first manned-flight in a Montgolfier balloon. This balloon makes regular appearances at the Fiesta. Of interest in panel 3, Firewalker from Battle Creek, Michigan is a swirl of colors high on the right side. It is also a repeat participant.

Jane wanted to fill this painting with layers of meaning that would reach from the casual observer who is entertained by the excitement and activity, to the student of the details of ballooning and its history.

An article about MAGIC, written by Jane, appeared in the January/February 2013 issue of Ballooning Magazine completing the introduction of MAGIC.