MAKR Instructors

The MAKR 2008 Instructor List:

Deb Cooley, Lincoln City, OR
My name is Debra Cooley. I guess that I need to give a bio on Me! I started building kites 29 years ago. Man time flies when your having fun! I made 8 kites then for Christmas gifts and everyone just really liked them. A couple of people wanted to get one for a birthday and a wedding gifts, and it didn't take me long to think about a small business. February 1979, I ordered a bunch of material and tested a few designs and styles of kites. I had quite a few years of art in school and I put it to work. Appliquéing designs back then was very unusual there was not very many people doing it.

I have been teaching how to do many different kite related things at Ft. Worden, Oregon Kitemakers Retreat, MAKR, and the World Kite Museum. I really like to talk to people to help them figure out the different ways to accomplish their projects. And someone helping me work out a few problems that I have sometimes. We need to keep our minds open for new ideas. And glad that there has been a few kitemakers make and go on to try new things. I have been on the OKR committee for 13 years and always looking for new teachers to bring out to Oregon and show how they do thing!

There has been many people that I have had the pleasure of meeting in the years that I have made kites and it's nice to have a large family around the world that likes to do the same thing.

And when someone tells me to go fly a kite! I'm ready!!! See you soon

Chris Dodson, Jamestown, ND
Chris began his 'adult period' with kiting about ten years ago. After attending a few kite festivals, he eventually purchased some sport kites and was hooked. Then one day a guy named Mike Gee found him and talked him into trying to make kites. From then on, Chris has enjoyed all aspects of kites and kite flying. He has had the privilege of participating and placing in both sport kiting and kitebuilding competitions.

With Mike Gee, Chris comprises one-half of the Wings on Strings team. In addition to maintaining a website, conducting workshops, and acting as "North Dakota's kite ambassadors", they host the very successful Jamestown KiteFest. The annual festival draws participants from around the country and Canada. The motto for Wings on Strings is: North Dakota - No Mountains, No Trees . . . Just One Big Kiteflying Field.

Not content to merely fly things, Chris is also drawn to making and experimenting with aeolian, wind-driven musical instruments. His aeolian journey is posted at: http://www.wingsonstrings/aeolian/.

His kiting passion is tolerated by his wife and three children.

Dave Ellis, Overland Park KS
David Ellis is a retired educator that keeps busy teaching Chinese Kite classes at the preschool level. He has four grown children and six grand children.

He became involved in kites in 1991 while teaching third graders, and started sewing kites in 1995. He also has kite history and kite making classes during the spring and summer each year in the area schools and preschools. Each year the children in our metropolitan area complete over a thousand kites with his help.

Dave likes to make kites that are out of the ordinary, and also likes to share what he discovers. He started having kite making workshops in the Kansas City Kite Club in 1997. Many of his students have overtaken him in their ability level, and now some of them also present projects for our workshop sessions. Dave's presentation at the 2008 MAKR session will be his third at that location.

You can contact Dave at kiteguy@everestkc.net. You can get a lot of information at Yahoogroups.com as well. Just join the KCX2 group, and you will be able to access a huge amount of pictures of the kites we make, get access to many useful links, etc. You can also log onto Kckiteclub.org to see what our kite club, KCKC, is up to.

Mark Engbaum, Renton, WA
Mark started kite flying in 2000 after a vacation to Ocean Shores. Began by flying dual and quad line stunt kites and gradually collected single line kites and line laundry items to keep the wife and children happy. After amassing a motorhome full of store bought kites, and oogling over the unique handmade kites at various kite festivals, I decided to try my hand at kite making. Using a pattern off the Internet for a simple box kite, I cut the material out and asked my wife to sew it together for me. After weeks of begging/waiting for the kite to be sewn, changed tactics and had my wife show me how to thread her Singer sewing machine. Taught myself to sew, upgraded to a Pfaff machine, and haven.t stopped creating since!! I enjoy most, designing and building kites with movement, like my worm (flutter) kite, or my twisted rotating boxes. My newest love is kite trains (Star Train). Have taught at Fort Worden Kitemakers Conference in 2006 (Worm Kite) and 2007 (Star Train) and will be teaching at Fort Worden again in 2008 (Giant Twisted Box Kite). Was awarded most innovative kite at the 2007 AKA National Convention for my Kalaidescope Kite (four large rotating box kites built together as a single kite). You can view some of my kites on my website: http://home.comcast.net/~maren4.

I look forward to my first year teaching at MAKR - my Star Kite Train, which placed third at the 2007 AKA National Convention.

Leora Hatchwell-McCune, Buffalo Grove, IL
Leora Hatchwell-McCune began flying kites 31 years ago when the man she was dating (and would eventually marry) was given a Nantucket Kiteman Ace Delta by his parents. It was the first time she had ever felt the wind in her hands, and she fell in love with it. Tom and Leora moved to Chicago and joined the Chicago Skyliners in 1983. It was like finding a new large family - with the added thrill of learning about and flying kites. Tom owns the family sewing machine and designs and makes kites for the family's enjoyment. Leora urges him on. They are the proud parents of the world's youngest kiteflyer (30 seconds after birth) who is now a sophomore in college.

Leora is a retired flavor scientist who spends her time making jewelry, painting silk and teaching. She has been involved in MAKR since its inception and taught previous classes in kite shaped candy and silk painted kites.

Kathy Horn, Big Mound, IL
Kathy has been involved in kite-making and promotion for over 30 years, her affiliation with the Chicagoland SkyLiners providing her with a nurturing resource of talented kitemakers from the very beginning. Originally it was her intricately pieced kites, some stitched with over 1000 pieces, that earned her numerous honors at such kite festivals as the Smithsonian, the US Air Force Museum, the AKA Nationals, and locally in Chicago and Milwaukee. In recent years, however, she has favored a more unconventional approach to kitemaking, utilizing all manner of materials and processes, to do it HER way - more play, less dogma!

The kite-promoting Horn Family hosted an annual Farm Fly event at their home, every August, for more than a decade. Beginning with a modest gathering of 12 guests, the Farm Fly quickly grew to an extravaganza that drew upwards of 100 kite-flying guests each year - until the Horn children grew big and strong enough to mount a mutiny!

Kathy's proudest achievement in the area of kite promotion began 20 years ago when she had an idea: what IF she could arrange a gathering of talented kitemakers in a remote woodland setting, where they could immerse themselves in all kinds of fun kitemaking activities, for an entire weekend? Would anyone come? Come they did, and thus MAKR was born and continues into its 20th year at the same place and the same time every March! Kathy proudly served as its founder and was the director for many many years before passing the baton to Barbara Meyer's very capable hands several years ago. Kathy still serves as Site Coordinator and has often been an instructor at MAKR as well. Her classes are widely known for being innovative and full of hands-on fun!

And while she continues to promote kites and kiting in her community, through workshops and presentations, it is another passion - cut flower production and marketing that keeps Kathy dancing to the tune of the blooms nearly every waking hour from March through October. This gives Kathy just enough "time off" in the winter to pop a few bon bons, paint her living room orange and market some exquisite hand-beaded and embroidered tapestries (another passion) from the talented women of rural India.

As for PICTURES- They are only for sissies. I don't got no stinkn pictures!!!!!!!!

Lindsey Johnson, Lincoln City, OR
I have been flying and building kites for more than two decades. The first serious bite of the kiting bug came along when my wife, Ronda Brewer, went to work for Lincoln City's Catch the Wind Kites in 1985. As with many other kite fliers, I got hooked first on dual line sport kites. I flew for the enjoyment and challenge of getting my kite to do things I had never seen anyone else do. While Ronda was at Catch the Wind, she got me involved with her children's kite making and related activities. I accompanied her to some festivals but, for the most part, I was known as "The Phantom" = conspicuous in my absence from those events. In 1996, I became more visible as I matured into a single line kite flier and kite maker. One of my first creations was a hand painted fabric and sewn appliquéd della Porta kite named "Zegalope", which earned me the Mixed Media honors at the 1999 American Kite fliers Association National Convention.

For the past 25 years, I have owned and operated a custom cabinet and furniture manufacturing shop. Always an early adopter of technology, my first laptop being an Etch-A-Sketch, I was among the first craftsmen on the Oregon Coast to integrate Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) into the manufacturing process. I also have incorporated Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machinery in the production of my products.

Having the technical knowledge and equipment has enabled Ronda and me to create many unique and innovative products for kite fliers and kite makers. In 2004 we launched our company, PhantomStarDesign.com. Our Tyvek no-sew kite kits are used in workshops around the world by schoolteachers for science and art classes, for corporate teambuilding exercises, by artists, and as individual kite projects for all ages. These kits allow the builder to enjoy the experience of creating their own kite without the need to know how to sew. PhantomStarDesign.com also performs custom work for kite builders, using our technical expertise to provide custom-built solutions, even in very small quantities, at the lowest possible cost. These services and products include design, drafting, patternmaking and products that we produce such as wooden line winders, fabric strip cutting systems and other tools and supplies.

This will be our second time coming to MAKR and the first time for me to teach my own class. Ronda and I taught our Tyvek no-sew fluted sled class here in 2005. We are looking forward to seeing you all again, to get reacquainted and meet new friends. See you soon.

Linda Larkey, Liberty, MO
Linda Larkey is part of TEAM LARKEY, along with son Ryan Larkey, and husband Randy Larkey.

Linda's Bio-I started sewing kites very unwillingly when my son Ryan NEEDED a NASA Wing, and although plans could be found, manufacturers could not. That first small prototype NASA I sewed never flew; never will. But I did learn ripstop seam techniques, and that tow points should be the same on each side (who knew?) The second NASA flew, and the next flew even better. Local club members dubbed us Team Larkey for our techniques to get large projects done quickly-Ryan would design and draw, and then he and Randy would cut while I sewed.

In 2001 we were asked to start offering classes locally. I attended my first MAKR in 2002, made Ryan come in 2003, and in 2004 was asked to present a class (the Guppy) and started bringing the whole gang.

My "teaching" method is pretty relaxed for an anal person-if you have a different style, method, or idea, speak up. There are a lot of ways to sew ripstop-one of which may work for you!

I have always loved ground display, and the joyous feel they lend to any festival. Watch for our Fans, Trans/Buddies and Face Balls at a festival near you-we are trying to go to a new one each year.

Charm Lindner, High Ridge MO
Charm Lindner, artist, kite maker, mother, grandmother and now Great grandmother, has been a supporter of MAKR for many years, taught numerous classes and I am glad to be back again.

Introduced to kiting by her husband, Ron, I entered kiting kicking and scratching. Then fell in love with little kites, thanks to Charlie Sotich. And it has been little kites ever since.

This past summer I taught 18 children kite programs and 3 adult kite programs. And three already scheduled for next year.

Having a successful career with a national craft company, I decided to just have fun. And the kiting world has given me that opportunity. And through these classes I hope to be able to give some of this fun back.

Most people seem to start small and build progressively. That was not my case. Our first kite was a 7-foot kaleidoscope of color. A rokkaku, sewed together piece by piece, not as we do today with the applique techniques. But by cutting each piece out and sewing it in place. All 250 pieces. Ron would cut and lay out at night and I would sew during the day. For years the kite was known as our build by number kite, because Ron would number each piece with chalk, and the chalk numbers stayed. But we had fun and still fly the kite today. It is probably one of the most photographed kite in our bag, a real celebrity, in newspapers, TV and even radio (I did the talking.)

After this it was all down hill as I headed into miniatures. I have been the featured artist at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Park with my miniature kites and kite making, also our big kites. My 6 inch Cody kite was featured at the Foundry Art Gallery (a local artist exhibition hall) and I have been told that my 4 inch cody is in a museum in Japan. I hope to see it some day. A while back I was fortunate to receive the honor of BEST CHRAFTMANSHIP at the 2nd Great Miniature Kite Contest Sponsored by The Drachen Foundation, being one of only 2 people in the U.S. to win awards.

My miniatures have given me many hours of pleasure and gives me the opportunity to spend quality time with a very unique group of creative people. It has also given me the opportunity to express myself in a different sort of way.

Teaching young people and adults has given me a lot of satisfaction and entertainment over the years and I look forward to the adventures of the future. ( I am married to Ron, what can I said.)

Barbara Meyer Maple Grove, Minnesota
Makes single line kites typically characterized by intricate, geometric, pieced designs and strong colors. Served many years on the Minnesota Kite Society board, including 2 years as president. A first place winner at each of the 1999-2003 AKA national championships. Honored as one of the Influential: women of kiting at the Maryland International Kite Exhibition, May 2000. Special guest flyer in England and Japan. Now serves on the AKA Board of Directors as second vice president; the AKA annual meeting committee; and chairs the AKA kite makers competition committee. Has found more time since the oldest has a drivers license and can drive his sister around. Took over as coordinator of MAKR in 2001.

Charlie Sotich, Chicago IL
An enthusiastic kite flier for over 30 years! A founding member of the SkyLiners in 1983. Very actively involved in & supportive of kiting on many different levels having conducted or participated in countless workshops, demos, & exhibits all over the U.S., in Europe and Japan. Specializes in miniature single-line & unusual kites. A supporter and instructor at MAKR for all 16 years; has taught cocktail kites, hummingbirds & bluebirds, inverted roks, rotors, postage stamp kites and much more! Has flown miniature kites both in the White House and Thomas Jefferson's parlor. In 2001 he took over the Paul Harvey radio show. In 2003 was received the prestigious Lee Toy Circle Award from the Kite Art Group of the AKA, and in 2004 gathered groupies in Dieppe France! Is bribed most effectively with cookies although neat stamps, colorful napkins, and whining works well too.

Holm Struck, Hamburg, Germany
I grew up in a village a little bit more than 20 miles west of Hamburg. Not far from the river Elbe. I am in the second half of the fourteeth, married and we have two sons, 11 and 9 years old. My profession is branch manager in a company that sales carparts.

In my youth kites and kiteflying where a small part but not really important. More interessting was our neighbours farm. That had nothing to do with kites.

My interest awake in 1986. Together with friends we where on the baltic sea for a weekend. I had no interesst to learn windsurfing. I looked around and saw a little boy flying his kite. That it is I thought, my friends need wind for windsurfing and I will need wind for kiteflying. I went in a shop and bought one stuntkite, an Acroracer. It looked like a cheap Peter Powel. The next years I bought some bigger stuntkites, also an original Hawaiian from Top of the Line. My favorite kite for a long time.

About 1990 I build the first kite by myself. It was a small delta kite and for the sewingwork I ask my brother in law. I was not able to work with a sewing machine.

1992 was our first Fanø kitefestival. A passion was born. I changed from a stuntkitesflier to a single line kite flier. From loving speed and power to love painting the sky and constructing kites. In the 90's I attend on workshops from Jose Sainz, Willi Koch, Martin Lester, Robert Brasington and some others. Doing workshops became more and more my favorite in kites. I taught classes in doing kiteapplication, modern kites and historical kites (the eddykite).

Since 1996 I meet kitefriends every second weekend in january for doing a kiteworkshop The results you can see on our webpages www.bei-kalle.de www.bei-kalle.de

About the year 2000 my interest in historical kites grews up. I attended at the eight - historical kite-workshops - . You also can see it by internet on www.historical-kite-workshop.de