| Ralph Dewey | |
| Birth Date: | 8 August 1944 |
| Nationality: | American |
| Field: | Sculpture, Performance, Balloon modelling |
Ralph Dewey (born August 8, 1944), also known as Dewdrop the Clown, is an American balloon twister who is known as the "grandfather of all twisters".[1] [2] He started twisting balloons in 1975, and in 1976 published his one time book, Dewey's New Balloon Animals. Since then he has published 30 books (16 on the subject of balloon twisting), numerous videos and DVDs, and dozens of magazine articles.
As a leader in balloon twisting and gospel entertainment, Dewey helped found several organizations: Joey to the World, a gospel clown convention; DewJam Balloon Convention; and Kingdom Twisters. Joey to the World is one of the largest and oldest Gospel Clowning Conventions in the world,[3] first staged in 1994 and held in Houston, Texas. In 2003, he started presenting the Ralph Dewey Balloon Excellence Award, which has now become one of the highest honors in balloon-twisting.[4] [5] Dewey is a staff writer for The Cross and the Clown magazine.[6] He has also written for Christian Conjurer, Balloon HQ, Clowning Around, and other similar publications.
David Grist, a pioneer in the balloon-twisting craft, died in 2005 after suffering a heart attack shortly before the annual Twist & Shout Convention. In honor of Grist's contributions to the field, the organizers of Twist & Shout, the biggest balloon twisting convention, instituted the "David Grist Memorial Award", the first award going to Ralph Dewey due to his contributions to the field of balloon twisting.[7] [8]
Dewey served in the US Air Force before joining Shell Chemicals as a non-degree engineer. He taught instrumentation at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas, where he wrote several reference and training handbooks on instrumentation.