Meet Wendell Clendennen of Stretch & Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendell Clendennen.

Wendell, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been an avid photographer since I was a teenager, and didn’t start twisting balloons until after I got out of the military in my later twenties. Stretch & Company began with Stretch the Clown and has evolved over the years to include balloon twisting, face painting, temporary airbrush tattoos, and photography.

My interest in photography started when I took a class in high school where I learned the basics of photography, along with how to develop film and prints. Although I didn’t take any more classes, or pursue it as a profession, I continued taking photos as a hobby from high school on. I guess it just never occurred to me to actively pursue photography as a career because my family pushed me toward more traditional ideas for making a living. I studied graphic arts and computer science in college. I never completed my degree because I got married and enlisted in the Air Force. Photography was put on a back burner as I focused on working and taking care of my family.

I was a Security Specialist in the Air Force, and continued working in security when I was discharged in 1987, and also became very active in a local church. While working in the children’s church department of a church in Tyler, Texas, I was “volunteered” to be a clown when we decided to go with a circus theme. I had been given the nickname of Stretch in another church when I was 17, so I decided to that I would be Stretch the Clown. Since clowns are associated with balloon animals, I bought a book at a local book store and started learning the art of balloon twisting. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the birth of Stretch & Company. I learned to juggle, some basic magic, and expanded my knowledge of bad jokes and terrible puns to tell while I was entertaining. My wife and children also took up clowning and helped out with the children’s church teaching and entertainment.

One afternoon we went to our local party store to buy more balloons and the lady behind the counter made an interesting suggestion that I had never even thought about. She knew my passion for entertaining and asked if I had considered clowning at parties and events for money. It never occurred to me that people would pay me to clown at parties because I had never had anything like that at any of my birthday parties, or parties I attended while growing up. I had never even had a balloon animal until I started making them at the ripe old age of 27. Intrigued by this idea, I made some homemade business cards and flyers and began trying to figure out how to market my new side career. Someone suggested talking to restaurants about coming in on kid’s nights and it wasn’t long before I was the “headliner” at a local restaurant in Tyler. I began handing out cards and started booking birthday parties and other events as Stretch the Clown.

Things were going good until I developed a cough that wouldn’t go away and didn’t have any other symptoms. My doctor finally figured out that it was a result of the baby powder I was using to set the grease paint I was wearing as clown makeup. It was settling in my lungs, and because talc is a ground up rock, my body couldn’t absorb it or get rid of it. I now had chronic bronchitis and my doctor told me I had to either give up the makeup or breathing. Thus, was born Stretch the Balloon Dude. I continued entertaining at the restaurant and changed my business cards and marketing to reflect the new persona.

In 2000, we moved from Tyler to the Dallas area and I continued marketing Stretch the Balloon Dude as a side job until the Fall of 2001. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 had a drastic effect on the DFW job market and in October I was let go from my job. I realized that the economy was in bad shape, so I decided it was time to begin marketing Stretch the Balloon Dude as a full-time career. I managed to get myself into restaurants six days a week and was handing out cards at every opportunity. Things were slow at first, but parties and events began to fill my calendar as more people saw me in action at various local restaurants and took my cards. In 2002, I contacted the local professional sports teams and managed to get in with the Dallas Mavericks as their balloon artist. That year my wife and our youngest son took up face painting and I changed the name of the business officially to Stretch & Company. The following year they became the official face painters of the Dallas Mavericks, and we have been at every home game ever since. We worked with the Dallas Stars and FC Dallas for a couple of seasons, and we have done some special events for the Dallas Cowboys.

In 2005, I was invited to teach balloon twisting at Summer Balloon Camp in Las Vegas, and also started producing educational DVDs about the art. I produced 22 DVD titles that have been sold around the globe, and in 2013 stopped making DVDs and started making PDF eBooks that can be read on computers, tablets, and even cell phones to keep up with the changing technology. I have currently released more than 20 eBooks that have also been purchased by balloon artists around the globe. The following summer I was the featured instructor for T Jam on the Road and spent 6 weeks touring 18 cities teaching classes at each stop along the journey. Since then I have taught at multiple major conventions across the country, including several times at Twist & Shout, which is the largest and most well know balloon twisting convention in the world. (http://www.balloonconvention.com) Some of the trips were with my youngest son, with him teaching classes on face painting, and others were with my wife. The conventions and trips have had me visit or travel through 42 of the 48 contiguous states to date. Stretch & Company has provided balloon art, face painting, and temporary airbrush tattoos for events of all types and sizes all across the DFW Metroplex and North Texas.

I made another addition to Stretch and Company in 2005 at the request of a local agent that has booked me for a number of events. She suggested that if I started performing as Santa Claus she get me more work during the holiday season. I took her up on her offer and only booked 3 gigs the first year. More gigs came in each year and I was getting really busy, then a big break came in 2009 when I became the Santa for the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. Working 7 days a week starting 2 weeks before Thanksgiving was very tiring, but also very fulfilling as I talked to thousands of kids and helped brighten their holiday season. In 2013 the Marriott bought out the Gaylord and things began to change. They brought in a “Mall Santa” company to take over the Santa set, and things began to change, but not in good ways. The entertainment manager left to go to Sundance Square in Fort Worth, and I followed her and became their Santa in 2014. The hours are a little shorter, and I am now sitting out in the middle of Sundance Square exposed to the weather, but it is a beautiful and fun place to spend my holiday season.

As a part of my marketing, I began taking photos of our art to use on our web site and in other forms of marketing and my love for photography was reawakened. I started carrying a camera with me almost all the time and began focusing expanding my photography skills as well. I wasn’t marketing my photography yet, but was continually taking photos, especially as we began to travel more. My love for photography had be reawakened and was growing as I took more and more photos. In 2010, I began uploading photos to stock photography sites and began seeing some sales as I learned how to improve my photos and what the various sites requirements were regarding quality and content. Still wanting to improve my skills, I enrolled in a photography course online with the New York Institute of Photography in 2014, and also started offering event photography as part of Stretch & Company. I have also set up a web for the photography side of our business entitled Photography by Stretch.

I have sold hundreds of micro-stock photos, and have even made a couple of larger sales, including on one photo of the city of Dallas that sold for a couple hundred dollars to a client on the 500px web site. I have also booked a number of events, including some birthday parties and corporate events. One of the difficulties of being a photographer today is that so many people buy DSLR cameras and are suddenly convinced they are professional photographers without taking the time to learn anything other than setting the camera on “Auto” and snapping photos. Another big problem is that everyone has a cell phone with a nice camera built in and doesn’t feel the need to hire a photographer for their event. I have had birthday moms tell me that they didn’t need a photographer for their party because “everyone has a cell phone with a camera.” While this can be a little disheartening, I continue to expand my skills and market my photography because I enjoy it so much. It is also very gratifying to submit your photos to a client and have them realize the difference in photos taken by an artist compared to snapshots taken on a cell phone.

It has been a bumpy road going from unemployed 2001 to building, managing, and maintaining an entertainment and photography business, but it has been more than worth the effort. Every time we leave the house and head out to work we are heading to a party or special event. Not only are we attending all of these fun events, we are there to add to the fun and entertainment, or there to document the fun with photographs that people will be sharing with their friends and family. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m expecting it to be filled with fun events, great people, and lots of beautiful photographs for as long as I can twist a balloon or hold a camera.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Working for yourself, especially in a field that depends on expendable income, is always going to be a bit of a roller coaster ride as the economy ebbs and flows. One of the biggest struggles is just getting your name out there and convincing people to book you instead of all the other artists that are doing the same thing. As self-employed entertainers, we don’t get paid time off or paid vacations, so we have to take care of ourselves and often work when we don’t feel like even leaving the house. Once we get to a gig, whether as a balloon artist, face painter, or photographer, we have to leave our personal feelings behind and put on a happy, fun attitude regardless of how we really feel. I have sat in the chair as Santa with walking pneumonia where my primary goal of the day was to not let the kids realize how sick Santa was when they came to visit.

Of course, as I mentioned before, one of the biggest struggles with photography is competing with the mentality that buying a high-quality camera automatically makes you great photographer, and cell phone photos are good enough for so many people. You really have to work to showcase your art and hope that people will see the difference in photographs and snapshots.

Stretch & Company – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Stretch & Company is an entertainment company that provides balloon art, face painting, temporary airbrush tattoos, photography, and Santa Claus entertainment for events of all types and sizes across the DFW Metroplex and North Texas. We are willing to travel, and I tell people that we will go anywhere “if the price is right.” As Stretch the Balloon Dude, I am known as one of the top balloon artists in the region, and am also an industry educator that has taught at major balloon conventions and seminars across the country. In an age where so many people are growing their friends lists online, I am proud to say that I have had the opportunity to meet and become friends with balloon artists and entertainers from all around the world. I am proud of the fact that my family has not only stood behind me, but has joined me as part of Stretch & Company. My wife and younger son are both face painters, and our oldest son is a balloon artist. We get to go to work together and make people happy with our art. What sets Stretch & Company apart from other companies is that not only is it home to Stretch the Balloon Dude, but it is a family business that involves multiple family members working together. Kids and adults love it when they find out that the artists are either married or a parent and child working together. We have done many events where my wife, myself, and our two sons are all working together at an event, and people love that.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my balloon twisting career was when I received the David Grist Memorial Award at Twist & Shout 2011 in Boston. David was a pioneering balloon artist who was known for his sharing and giving attitude. He died of a heart attack in 2008, and this award was set up in his honor to recognize balloon artists with a similar attitude of giving back to our community. I was extremely humbled and honored when I was presented with the award in front of so many of my friends and peers.

The proudest moment of my photography career so far was when I sold my first photo through Getty Images. It wasn’t a large sale, but know that my photo skills were increasing and the quality of my photos was good enough to make in on one of the premier photo sales sites in the world was a great feeling.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://stretchc.com and http://photographybystretch.com
• Phone: 214-868-2917 (cell) 817-381-1636 (home)
• Email: stretch@stretchc.com
• Instagram: stretchc19
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stretchtheballoondude
• Twitter: stretchc19
• Other: http://500px.com/stretchc19

Close up of an intimidating stare of a silverback gorilla looking directly into the lens of the camera on a sunny day Aerial view of the skyscrapers and office buildings of the skyline of Dallas, Texas on a beautiful, sunny day. Closeup of a colorful pattern of latex balloon nozzles organized by color and size Young girl holding stuffed animal cat and looking into the camera with sunlight highlighting her hair Liam Frahm – First Birthday March 19 2017 Single yellow Water Lily and green lily pads floating on pond, covered with water drops after a Spring rain. Portrait of a young girl smiling

Image Credit:
Wendell Clendennen – Photography by Stretch

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