Indonesian kites flying high in Pacific Coast

Indonesian kites flying high in Pacific Coast

LONG BEACH, Pacific Coast: An Invitation to Indonesian Kites,
the year-long featured exhibit at the World Kite Museum, will be
joined by Kites & Culture: The Spirit of Indonesia, sponsored by
the Drachen Foundation and the International Kite Festival.

"The combination of lively videos, vibrant flying kites and
hands-on demonstrations by the Indonesian kite flyers will make
this week anything the dry and dusty fare sometimes associated
with museums," said director of the World Kite Museum Kay
Buessing.

Spearheaded by Terry Shields, an ardent Indonesian kite
festival-goer, several Indonesian kite makers donated 32 unique
and rare kites to the museum several years ago. The pieces range
from a 10-foot Balinese Jangan with a 140-foot-long tail to a
single leaf kite made in Southeast Sulawesi.

Kite flyers representing Indonesia are S. Nyoman Adnyana,
Anshori Djausal, Lamasili, Sari Madjid and Tinton Prianggoro.

The World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame, located on the Pacific
Coast, began in the late 1980s when local kite enthusiasts met to
discuss the idea of forming a museum dedicated to kites and their
flyers. Their goal was to create a place where people could learn
about the history, art, science and fun of kites worldwide.

The project gained momentum in 1990 when the city allowed the
fledging museum group to use a city building as its headquarters
to begin displaying a growing collection of kites, kite
accessories, kite literature and kite memorabilia. The museum
opened on Aug. 21, 1990.

The first displays were from the David Chekley Asian kite
collection of 700 Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian kites. It was
donated by the family of Chekley, a Seattle architect who devoted
his life to acquiring the kites. Chekley's 350 Japanese kites are
considered the most complete collection outside of Japan.

Today the museum's kites number more than 1,400, too many to
be displayed in the small building.

The museum changes exhibits regularly and rents space to store
the multiple artifacts. As well as displaying its kite
collection, the museum provides extensive archival materials.

The American Kite Association has combined its archives with
those of the museum and private kite archives to form a major
kite information source available around the world.

An international advisory board, whose members are from
England, France, Japan, Singapore and Brazil, promotes the
museum, obtain items for the collection and offer advice on
specific projects and exhibits.

Education programs are conducted in area elementary and high
schools.

Large birds, elephants, bats, gods and goddess, kites made of
bamboo, cloth, paper and native leaves have been flown, bringing
glory and honor to their communities.

Besides the kites, sounds of accompanying gamelan orchestras,
kite hummers and bamboo xylophones, videos of kite fishing and
bat catching, as well as artifact photos and interpretive panels
draw viewers into the world of Indonesian kites and the culture
of the exhibit.

The kites range in size from the nine-foot-tall Balinese
bebean, with a tail made and flown by a team dressed in identical
sarongs and turbans, to a single leaf kite, sometimes made from a
single palm leaf. The kites from Sumatra are made with
elliptical wings covered with a shiny, opaque paper. Elephant
kites painted on nylon taffeta fly in trains, trunks swaying
similar to their progress through the forest.

From Sulawesi come leaf kites in diamond picture shapes with
attached hummers. A bamboo base is strung like a loom so that
leaves can be woven through the strings.

Leaves are available to touch. The number one public sport,
kite fighting, is also represented by two different sized kites.

The hand-painted lozenge shaped kites fly with the highly
prized cutting line.

They swoop and dive, luring their opponent into positions so
they may cut their line from the sky.

-- World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame