The Ball Poster Gallery
Welcome to “The Ball” poster archives gallery.
This archive documents Ball posters from the very first ball in 1996 up to the present. So, it represents the transition of “The Ball” from its inception to the present day and a visual history of the evolution of the event
Most of these posters are the work of Bryan Johnson and various friends of “The Ball”.
A lot of growth and change has taken place since 1996. This is as much a fact of the local fetish scene itself as it is true of communications technology that has been used to support that scene.
The first few posters were produced on a 386 SX33 computer with a 90 mg hard drive, running Windows 3.1 and CorelDraw 2.0.
When we started, we produced our images through scans of photographs and printed materials. We only produced black and white posters and those were printed as a hard copy for postering on billboards.
By 1998 we had advanced to producing all of our own original images. They were still shot on film, and printed in black and white. It was much more work and expense than simply scanning an image from a book, but producing original art was far more satisfying from the artistic perspective and it gave a venue for local scene people to strut their stuff.
“The Ball” is a local event with a local focus. As such, having local faces on our posters has worked very well for us.
1999 was the most important year in the technical development of the posters. In 1999, we started producing a colour version of the poster for use on the internet and in stores. October 1999 was the first poster shot with a digital camera and composited in Photoshop.
Switching from CorelDraw to Photoshop had a huge effect on the quality of the images and posters.
Comparing the August 1999 with October 1999 posters says it all. To this day, the October 1999 poster is still one of my favourites.
By the year 2000 we were producing versions of the poster as a traditional black & white poster for use outdoors on handbills and in magazines, a full colour poster for use by our ticket outlets, a colour version for use on the internet, and full colour fridge magnets.
That's quite a long ways from the original black and white poster printed on plain white paper.
The development of the information contained in the poster is an interesting record of the development of the fetish scene in Winnipeg, as well.
Over the years businesses, groups and people have come and gone. Many of them have been recorded as ticket sources, contact information, models or entertainment on the posters of their day.
The development of the blocks of administrative text also tells a tale of the evolution of kink in Winnipeg.
I love the naive simplicity of the text displayed on the December 7, 1996 poster. It shows such enthusiasm, while March 1997 marks the appearance of “The Ball” logo.
June 2000, shows the first URL for Prairie Caller email discussion group.
Every poster has a tale to tell, and that story usually hinges on the model.
As the artist, I remember most of the posters by the people who were in them. Over the years we have been lucky to have some very beautiful and distinguished models.
Many of our models have gone on to become educators, doctors, lawyers, business executives, research scientists, and well, photo models.
Over the years I have also had the good fortune to collaborate with several other artists.
January 1997 features a drawing by Lisa that was later reprinted as a Ball T-shirt.
March 1998, features a drawing by Don Greenberg.
February 2000, features a full colour comic book style of drawing by Margot with herself as The Mistress.
The February 2002, poster is interesting in that both models are the same person (aka Shandi) and the photographer was no less than. Shandi, herself for this poster.
October 2003, was entirely produced by Prettydark as part of her wonderful clown porn series.
The August 2004, poster is by Captain Ralph. The Captain consistently comes up with some incredibly striking images.
prettydark also created the December 2004 poster as another in her series of clown porn.
These people have been a major source of artistic inspiration for me. It has been an honour and a privilege to work with them over the years.
And that's the technical run down on the posters.
We hope you enjoy seeing them and the memories they bring back. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to drop us a line.
If you like my art and would like to see some of my works in metal check out my website.
Until then, play safe and we'll see you at “The Ball”.
By Master Bryan
