Nancy Lowden Norman. Communications and Special Events Manager

Known for large-scale sculpture, works in steel reaching heights of seventy feet and weighing thousands of pounds, Tal Streeter’s lifetime work as an artist has been oriented to directing viewers' thoughts into the sky His monumental sculptures, "ladders into the sky," parallel another, very unusual dimension of this artist's work: He is recognized as being the first fine artist of the western world to turn his attention to the art and craft of kite making, studying traditional kite making in Japan, traveling the world over searching out kite lore, producing and exhibiting his own kites as well kites acquired in his travels (drawn from a collection numbering in the thousands) in museums and galleries, and authoring numerous articles and seminal books on the ancient, traditional and contemporary form of both western and eastern kites.

NLN There is a long tradition of kites globally, from Indonesian fishing kites, the mulberry paper and bamboo kites of Japan, kite fighting in Afghanistan and kites as an important tool in both historical and contemporary aeronautical research—as I gleaned from your most recent book, The Philosopher’s Kite. What can you tell us a little about these traditions of kites as science, sport and art?

TS "A little?" I’m inclined to be long-winded, an affliction perhaps a sub-text of someone who constantly prays for winds to carry his kites out into the sky.

I’ve written six or seven books and have more in the works, trying to get the whole story and the emotional responses raised by kites world-wide onto reader’s bookshelves. It is a rich, rich subject. One just loaded with hugely divergent, fascinating details. You mentioned having recently visited Antigua, Guatemala for their "Day of the Dead" celebration where villagers make kites 30-fleet in diameter flown in the hillside cemeteries to release the spirits of the dead—"Physically and spiritually," you said, "truly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen." Beautiful indeed, these Guatemalan kites made of tissue paper on such a large scale. In the sky, lit from behind, they take on the appearance of huge stain-glass windows.

Kites in Afghanistan are flown at heights approaching three miles! Fighting kites in India, on January 14, celebrating the arrival of Spring—in the city of Jaipur alone, there are millions of tiny kites flying—absolutely millions, I guarantee it. Jaipur citizens play a kite cutting game, the kite lines coated with ground glass. Japanese kites are truly works of art, paintings in the sky; their makers honored as living national treasures. Japanese kite makers can often trace this family heritage back three hundred years and more.

There’s absolutely no question that the airplane began with research into the aerodynamic laws governing the flight of kites. The Wright Brother’s first experiments were based on bi-wing kites designed by a New Zealander living in Australia, Lawrence Hargrave. And large kites!? There are some whoppers. For example, the parafoil, a modern stickless kite (which may be outfitted as a parachute, a wing and a racing yacht’s spinnaker); in R&D at NASA, as the wing of an emergency return vehicle for the International Space Station—this particular kite/wing/parachute is roughly half the size of a football field (the parafoil’s inventor is the subject of a biography I’m working on presently, Domina Jalbert: Brother of the Wind).

NLN How would you define kite art? What are some of the materials used in contemporary kite making?

TS Art as we know it today is constantly being redefined, moving forward, a product of societal changes, artist’s creativity and new materials. In my early days as a sculptor, there were only three materials considered legitimate for exhibition in museums (the Whitney, as just one example): stone, bronze and wood (essentially employing the techniques of carving, modeling in clay and casting in metal. One of the problems of contemporary art is the limitation imposed by what we accept and consider art, at any moment, to be. I for one would gladly see the end of the museums displaying "painting" and "sculpture" replaced by with something like "provocative, novel ideas." We’ve now accepted a super market full of provocative and novel ideas—and who dare question their authenticity as art. Laser light art, photographs, video/movies, all the forms of objects, performance art and events which might include various forms of "sky art" and "windart"—actually an endless list of provocative ideas and novel ideas, the newer kids in the museums.

A simple definition for sky art, WINDART, kite art? Forgoing a long-winded answer: "Art that flies."

The older forms of so-called fine art, well, they’ll be around well into the future and respected, but don’t they seem to fit more comfortably in the category of art history? Why do we have to compare or decide to exclude one of these very different categories of art: art history and new art? I’d be too timid myself, thinking carefully about this, deciding whether or not I should worry myself or give too much credence to those who wonder if in fact kites might qualify as art. Well, we might recognize a category called "Popular Art," but Pop Art successfully raised this sort of art to the level of Fine Arts, the royal stream. We in the west have a very dogmatic prejudice for western art as the be all and end all. From my perspective, traditional African carving is the greatest sculpture of all time and will conceivably never be equaled by any culture in the world. You wouldn’t know this by reading books on the great art of the world. Popular art? Fine Art? Crafts? Kites? Automobiles? Painting (well, I consider this to surely fall into the category of art history)? I don’t find it useful to separate these out into what I consider to be outmoded categories: sculpture, painting fine arts, etc.

NLN The residency is not just about kite making, but also about aerial photography, kite dance/theater, and your own area, "Beyond Modern Kites." How does this fit into the history of kites?

TS It simply takes into account the long history of kites in cultures throughout the world. Contemporary artists then, processing this through their creative powers, seeing if what has become history—and not always art—might not lend itself to something novel and provocative, quite possibly kite art, something that infected kite artists’ dreams at night and made them jump out of bed in the morning ready to bring these dreams into the light of day, to further astound, mystify, and affect themselves and others in the "wonder" zones of human pleasures.

NLN What’s a kite festival all about?

TS Kite festivals vary, around the world. In the United States and Europe there’s a fair amount of variety, a mixture of very talented and inventive "amateurs" as well as the first grade of the many grades one advances through, absorbed in making kites: kite first grade begins with "store-bought" ice cream cone kites, super hero kites and rainbow kites.

Kite first grade for me began at age nine when I made what was then the US’s traditional diamond two-stick kite Eddy/Malay kite out of some pine sticks my father cut out for me and I covered with a flattened out brown paper bag. This kite provided me with two summers of absolute joy (more than a fair amount of time each evening spent untangling great balls of string). I repeated kite first grade around my thirtieth birthday, flying a small black plastic delta with two big eyes, mimicking the appearance of a scary bat. I flew this kite from the hillside behind my house, with several thousand feet of line, tying it off on a bush, leaving it to fly overnight, first thing, waking up in the morning, going out to check to see if it was still in the sky.

The WINDART kite festival to be held on New Smyrna beach at the conclusion of the ACA WINDART program will be an opportunity to view the work of a very, very select group of contemporary kite artists drawn from around the world. The second half of the New Smyrna Kite Festival will find these very same kite artists, flying their own works as well as helping to fly what will no doubt be some great little bats and ice cream cones, as well as, we hope, the kites of kite enthusiasts from the larger Florida community, flying what will surely be their own labors of love, and what may be for us all as an audience of watchers, the opportunity of a first look at examples "provocative and novel ideas;" kite art, Sky Art, WINDART.