Quartet plays with balloons

Ohio University's Aesthetics Technologies Lab is hosting an innovative group of musicians, The Rubber Tree Quartet, for a week of balloon twisting and musical fun.

The residency will present the talents of international artists Stan Wood, Fran Holland, Addi Somehk and Gabriel Rowland and showcase their creative way of bringing music to audiences. The group plays a wide-range of unique, self-made instruments created from latex balloons, such as a balloon bass, balloon drums and the vibraband.

"I think the real beauty of this ensemble is that their instruments were found in simple things, accessible to just about anyone here, and the lesson they share is how vision, commitment and practice can make a simple thing into something truly special," Katherine Milton, director of the Aesthetic Technologies Lab, said in a news release.

The artists spent the beginning of this week practicing for their main concert at 4 p.m. Friday at the Baker University Center Theater Lounge on the building's second floor. The concert is free and open to the public.

The quartet also will perform as part of the School of Music's Hallowpalooza concert that evening at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium.

While in Athens, the quartet are scheduled to perform today at Chauncey Elementary School.

The core value of the Aesthetic Technologies Lab is to promote innovation and creativity in the arts, the news release said, adding that the Rubber Tree Quartet proves that technology is not always what people usually assume it to be.

"'Technology' doesn't necessarily need to be connected to an electrical outlet or a computer screen," Milton said in the release.

The quartet's residency is supported by Arts for Ohio, which provides OU students free admission to College of Fine Arts Events and expands fine arts offerings on campus.