The European
Air Gallery
(click here for pictures of all the kites)
The European Air Gallery is a unique collection of Edo Kites painted by
European artists. The collection is now owned by North East Kite Fliers,
a kite club based in the North East of England. The collection was a gift
to the club in March 1998 from Sunderland City Council, who wanted these
unique kites to stay in the North East and continue to be exhibited or
flown at Sunderland’s own International Kite Festival held at Washington,
Tyne and Wear, UK, at the beginning of July each year.
The European Air gallery was an innovation promoted by Sunderland City Council
early in 1994 when the first phase of the project was launched. The inspiration
for the project came from the Hague Air Gallery in Holland where some years ago
Gerard van der Loo in collaboration with Els Lubbers initiated a wonderful air
gallery of Edo style kites painted by many well known Dutch artists. This original
Hague Air Gallery gained an international reputation and was an inspiration to
many kite makers and artists alike across the world.
Sunderland City Council with its team of enthusiastic workers from the Department
of Education and Community Services found sponsorship for this project and this
culminated in the production of 22 of these unique works of art. Gerard van der
Loo gave guidance to the team and made the kite sails and frames at his kite
shop, Vlieger Op in Holland. The project achieved its full potential during The
Year of the Visual Arts in 1996. Sunderland City Council staff took the kites
to many European venues to display and fly with the help of locally trained volunteers.
In the UK, the kites have been displayed at a number of venues including Newcastle
and Stanstead airports and in the Civic Centre and Central Library in Sunderland.
Each year they have been flown at The Sunderland International Kite Festival.
In 1997 Sunderland City Council felt that the Kite Collection had achieved all
the objectives set for the project and therefore the council offered the collection
to North East Kite Fliers, the present owners of the Kites.
North East Kite Fliers accepted the gift and will endeavour to continue
to promote the collection and Sunderland’s role in the origination of the collection
and the wonderful work done by the original team. The club will display or fly
the kite whenever possible, in particular at Sunderland’s International
Kite Festival.
Basic technical information about
the kites:
The kites are based on the Japanese Edo Kite with the sails made in rip-stop
nylon.
The frames are made from detachable fibre glass and carbon fibre spars.
The kites are rectangular standing 2.4 metres tall and 1.4 metres wide.
The kites have 17 bridle/flying lines about 30 metres long, arranged in two groups,
each terminating in a padded wrist strap, the top group ends in a red strap and
when pulled causes the kite to climb, the other strap is yellow and is the handle
for descent. The bridle lines all pass through a plastic grid to keep them separated
and running free. The ascent and descent of the kites can be controlled using
the two handles but very little control can be exerted on any lateral flight.
This system of two handle control was devised by the Vlieger Op team in Holland.
The sails have been painted with a special Dupont paint Teflon, the brand
name of the paint is Lucite Household Paint manufactured in Germany. It
is imported into this country and is available in a limited range of colours
but not in small tins. It is a water-based paint and in Holland the Dutch
suppliers will mix almost any colour. Whilst it is an expensive paint probably
around £12 to £15
a litre, a little goes a long way.
More details are available from the North East Kite Fliers secretary
- Pete Sturrs 7 Tiverton Place, Parkside Grange, Cramlington. NE23 1PT.
Tel 01670 732705
- or E-mail him (Make sure you remove Pete's "Blue-Tilley" before sending.)
(click here for pictures of all the kites)