My reaction, in 1989, when
I first saw his kites, was awe. I was stunned by their
size, their detail, their construction, but most of all,
their beauty. After a cursory meeting on the beach, I
bumped in to Peter that night in the Dog Salmon Saloon
on Long Beach’s main drag. I had no idea that
two such different people could become such good friends.
Peter was a trained artist, adept in lithography and
silkscreen printing, I think he realized the hazards
of the profession---very toxic chemicals in the printing
process and turned to kites as one creative outlet. The
kite world was lucky to have a person of Peter’s
energy, drive, and uncompromising standards of excellence
for the few years that we did. Peter could not believe
the casual approach I had to kites when we first met.
He forced me to examine my creativity, to take much more
serious approach to the art of kitemaking.
This weekend, while listening to Satoshi Hashimoto talk
about the bamboo work in the Japanese bee kite, friends
of Peter’s laughed when Hashimoto-san explained
that many of the ways the bamboo was used only for looks!
Peter was right: presentation was everything!
Peter did nothing halfway. He was turned on to kite
pin collecting and within months, had Europe’s
largest collection. His photography was another creative
outlet and the results were as beautiful as the kites
they showed. He was a musician and loved to talk about
American music. He loved the music of Frank Zappa—we
sang “Lonesome Cowboy Burt” on that first
night we met.
Maybe what made us friends was a mutual respect for
the Japanese kite tradition. We met while he was working
on large tosas, hakkakus, and keroris, and his approach
to them was his alone. Each was a personal statement,
but one made with sensitivity and understanding of the
underlying traditions. We flew kites in a riverbed in
Ikazaki, Japan and on the beach in Uchinada. The contrast
between the traditional Japanese kites and Peter’s
complex box kites served to show the breadth of kiting
today. The sight of one of his extended box kites high
over the awards ceremony in Uchinada is one I won’t
soon forget.
Most who met Peter noticed that he remained adept at
screen printing by screening his name and a classical
art image on one panel of each of his kites.
That image depicted an ancient god, who, when caught
in the bed of a mistress, transformed himself into a
cloud. Peter’s mistress was his kites, and they
will continue to inspire us for years to come. As I gaze
into cloud-filled kiteflying skies, I’ll know
Peter has turned himself into one of those many clouds
and is challenging me yet again.
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