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The Place:
Seattle, Washington's historic Panama Hotel Tea and Coffee House, located in the city's international district, became an easy choice as venue for The Drachen Foundation's first paper kite laboratory. Invited artists lived at the Panama, where they could experience lively downtown Seattle, eat inexpensively at a variety of ethnic restaurants, and, most importantly, have workshop space next to the hotel itself. The studio provided privacy and a working space for the kite artists, while the neighboring tea house served as a venue for public events staged to publicize the artists' efforts.
The Project Intent:
This artist invitational provided a conclusion to over two years of paper kite lectures, workshops, as well as the first paper kite contest sponsored by The Drachen Foundation. The Foundation's intent was to bring together 8 established contemporary kite artists with varying degrees of experience using paper as the primary kite sail material. It was hoped that the kite makers could spend the entire week producing paper kites that would reflect their experience and vision, as well as the properties of paper that continue to make it a viable choice for contemporary kite makers.
Project Restrictions:
The invited kite makers decided against a defined theme, although for future events of this kind, a theme may well provide helpful direction to the artists. Kite makers were also confined to the limited table and studio space provided at the Panama Hotel. These restrictions influenced the size and quantity of kites finished. Artists chose different approaches; some started with an "empty canvas", while others prepared materials beforehand in order to produce in their own style.
Some of the Results:
Finished kites very much reflected the established styles and approaches of each of the invited artists. There was limited artist-to-artist influence. From The Drachen Foundation's point of view, this was an acceptable and exciting result since the kites made show the breadth of the spectrum of paper kites. As a teaching and motivating tool, these kites can only inspire. The finished products show how accessible, inexpensive, and non-threatening paper can be when compared to many of the high-tech contemporary kite making materials.
Finished kites demonstrated collage, paper patchwork, simple piece-work, painting and dyeing, and photo-copying as decorative techniques. Noticeably absent at this gathering was an artist who incorporated photography into the kite sail.
Artists:
Anna Rubin, Austria
Anke Sauer, Germany
Kirsten Sauer, Germany
Christine Schwarting, Germany
Frank Schwiemann, Germany
Scott Skinner, USA
Robert Trepanier, Canada
Nobuhiko Yoshizumi, Japan
Experience with paper varied from Robert Trepanier's, "almost zero", to Nobuhiko Yoshizumi's, over 30 years. Kirsten Sauer has used paper-like ripstop for many years, Frank Schwiemann uses paper extensively in installation models and machetes. Anna Rubin has used natural materials exclusively in her kite making and Scott Skinner has experimented with paper patchwork for almost five years.
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