THE BALLOON MAN

Raised in a circus, Huber tells story of a lifestyle that has faded

Artist Fritzi Huber, who has an exhibit at the Cameron Museum focusing on work based on her family, who were circus performers.Photo Ken Blevins

By Justin LacyWilmigton, NC StarNews Correspondent

Published: Tuesday, June 28, 2011

"Remember when you see us dressed as clowns, ours are human hearts beating with passion." The phrase, taken from Ruggiero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera "Pagliacci," welcomes visitors to the Cameron Art Museum's "Fritzi Huber: A Circus Life," an exhibition of ephemera and art inspired by the Wilmington-based artist's unique upbringing."That sets the tone for the show," Huber said of the quote during a walkthrough of the exhibit in June. "Even though this is different from the lives that most of us experience, it is also a statement that everyone is the same."Below Leoncavallo's words is a femme fatale clown Huber painted right onto the museum wall. Hanging upside down, the image is analogous to the hangman tarot card. For Huber, it is a sort of self-portrait signifying her stint as an aerialist as well as the changes in her life – her personal switch from trapeze artist to visual artist, as well as the broader decline of the once-prosperous circus industry, discernible through her family tree. Huber was born into a multi-generational circus family. Her father, Fritz Huber, was a Swiss-born aerialist who ran away and joined the circus. Her mother, Barbara "Betty" Schutz, was an aerialist and acrobat from a long lineage of circus performers. Together, they were "The Sensational Kays" and toured America while raising Fritzi and her younger brother, Bobby, on the road. read more at:http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110628/ARTICLES/110629697/-1/news05?Title=Raised-in-a-circus-Huber-tells-story-of-a-lifestyle-that-has-faded