Wind Art Kick-Off
Lockwood Elementary, Bothell, Washington
September 21, 2006
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A presentation and flying demonstration by Japanese master kite maker Mikio Toki kicked off Wind Art, a collaborative project at Lockwood Elementary funded in part by a Washington State Arts Commission First Step grant. Building on kite designs and curriculum tested in spring 2006, the project partners—Lockwood teachers, parents, and students, visual arts consultant Maria Grade, kite artist Greg Kono, and DF director Ali Fujino—will work during school year 2006-07 to integrate visual arts standards with the kite curriculum and make art kites (including the Toki Kaku Dako) at several grade levels.
Toki-san displayed and discussed the images on a number of his hand-painted Edo-style kites, but students were most impressed by his ten-foot Rokkaku, with its collapsible spars. Too large to fit through the cafeteria doors, the kite was quickly disassembled and reassembled outside. Students ringed the playfield where they usually fly the kites they have built. At first Toki’s kite barely lifted into the air: even a master kite flier has difficulty contending with the light wind and turbulence caused by the school buildings and slope adjacent to the playfield. But when Toki played out line diagonally across the entire field and demonstrated how to tug the line, teasing the kite into the sky, it rose higher and higher, to the delight of all onlookers. After landing the kite safely, Toki invited students to feel the kite’s sail and watch while he removed its spars.
Thanks to Lockwood teacher Marte Peet (shown here with Toki) and project volunteer coordinator Staci Adman for organizing this event, and to Mikio Toki for inspiring students through his artistry and ebullience.
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