Children learn art of making Japanese kites at festival

Looking up to the sky, allowing imagination and creativity to soar, kids attending the Utah Arts Festival are being taught to make fish — and other things — fly.

Brightly colored paper koi fish and butterfly kites fluttered on a windy afternoon Thursday while excited children tried their hands at making the culturally influenced artwork.

The Japan Cultural Heritage Foundation was teaching children attending the festival the art of Japanese kite-making.

Children, and even some adults, sat in the shade of the Japan Cultural Heritage tent coloring their kite creations.

Volunteers helped distribute supplies and instructed each participant during the kite-making process.

The two kite designs available — the butterfly and the koi fish — were specifically created for the children's art yard. The butterfly kite was designed by master kite designer, Greg Kono of the Drachen Foundation.

Children learned the parts of the kite, including the spine and the sail. The volunteers watched to make sure the kites are properly made, ensuring possible flight.

Ornate Japanese kites of the more authentic variety hung inside the tent as an inspiration to the young kite makers.

Visitors to the art yard would be amiss if they don't see the beautiful origami works of Ine Takenaka, a Salt Lake resident, who has made origami for 30 years.

Takenaka was on-site, carefully folding cranes and other origami art.

She explained that she made 20 cranes, out of whatever she had around — gum wrappers, scrap paper — and some with decorative washi paper. However, it is Japanese tradition to make 1,000 cranes once you start making them. Takenaka has now made 1,050 cranes. These cranes are on display, hanging like beads from the opening of the Japan Cultural Heritage tent. The cranes vary in sizes and color.

"Making a shape is easy with washi. The paper is soft, but strong," Takenaka said.

Beautiful calligraphy by Yoto Matsubayashi is also on display inside the tent area.

Jo-Ann Wong, a long-time supporter of Asian culture in Utah, volunteered at the festival, sharing the kite-making tradition with young attendees and also teaching a thing or two about Asian traditions.

"My father was very active in the Chinese community. That's where I got my love for the Chinese community and that has moved on to the Asian community," Wong said.

An expected 3,000 children will make kites during the four-day festival, which ends Sunday, she said.

Once the kites were completed, Wong, exuding happiness and excitement, took photos of the children with their finished projects, pronouncing them new kite masters.

Forty-eight volunteers will operate the tent in shifts of four, all being kite masters, certified at the Utah Asian Festival.

The Target art yard is open from noon to 9 p.m. and is located at the southwest corner of the festival grounds. Children 12 and younger get free admission into the festival. The festival runs daily, ending Sunday night, with art, demonstrations, music and more.

E-mail: jnicholls@desnews.com