ANN ARBOR—He gave them a big machete-like knife, a bunch of bamboo strips and a box of Band-Aids. Then the Chinese kite master left University of Michigan artists Anne Mondro and Matthew Shlian alone in his Beijing home to create their own wispy pieces of aerial art.

Applying everything they learned from the master, they got busy with the knife, splitting and carving the bamboo for a frame?the most important part of a kite. They heated some of the strips over a flame, making them more flexible so that they could be bent into precise shapes. Silk thread and glue held the pieces together.

As hours passed like minutes, Mondro and Shlian developed a deeper appreciation of the challenges and complexities of making kites?a craft the Chinese have been developing over thousands of years.

“It was like being a freshman again. It was very humbling,” said Shlian, a lecturer at the U-M School of Art and Design. “We used up all of the bamboo.”

The two artists spent three weeks in China over the summer taking the crash course in kite making with Master Ha Yiqi, whose creations were featured in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Kite maker Master Ha YiqiNow, the artists plan to share their newfound skills with U-M students in a series of workshops Sept. 19-23. Master Ha will also travel to U-M for the event, which will include Michigan kite master Sam Ritter.

Students will get to show off their high-flying handiwork in a kite festival Sept. 25, part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the U-M Center for Chinese Studies.

Organizers hope the kite-making workshops will attract students from across the university?art majors as well as those studying engineering, architecture and the sciences.

Kite making is far from being just an artistic endeavor, said Mondro, an assistant professor at the School of Art and Design. Those who excel at it need to have a sharp mind for precision, aerodynamics and material strengths.

“Scale, weight and symmetry are important when creating a kite,” she said. “If one aspect is off, the kite will not fly. At the kite festival, it won’t be about who has the prettiest kite. It will be about whose kite works.”

The artists first tackled the basic rectangular X-frame kite before moving on to more advanced designs, such as the double fish and the curved swallow, popular in Beijing.

A strict but patient teacher, Master Ha made the artists carve the pieces of bamboo over and over until they were the perfect form and thickness.

“We’re talking about millimeters here, a type of exactitude not considered in most Western contemporary art,” Shlian said.

The artists also studied the cultural imagery on Chinese kites and how to paint the traditional designs.

“Completing one swallow kite image took two skilled artists 20 hours to paint,” Mondro said.

Building the kites has inspired their art and teaching at U-M. Shlian specializes in making figures by folding paper and has explored kite building before in his classes. Mondro makes sculptures with metal, and she plans to start using bamboo for internal structural support in her heavy pieces.

During one of their last days in China, Master Ha took the artists to a park for their final exam: a test to see if their kites would really fly. To the artists’ great relief, the kites shot up into the sky.

“These kites fly amazingly well,” Mondro said. “You just need a touch of wind. I have never seen a kite fly so high.”

Master kite flyers will demonstrate their skills at a Kite FLY-A-THON 5-7 p.m. Sept. 23 at U-M Ferry Field.

Students and the public can compete in the Kite Festival 1-5 p.m. Sept. 25 at U-M’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum. Kite aficionados are invited to compete with their own self-crafted kites.

For competition rules, event schedule and more details about the festivities, visit the website for the Center for Chinese Studies at http://ii.umich.edu/ccs/eventsprograms/kitefestival

The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies and Confucius Institute with support from the Office of the President, Alumni Association, Office of University Development, College of LSA, Ross School of Business, School of Art & Design, College of Engineering, Stearns Collection, University Musical Society, Arts at Michigan, Gifts of Art (U-M Health System), Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, and the International Institute.

Related Links:

• Kite Festival website