^{Image of The Angel of the North and the kite mosaic  courtesy of Kaleel Zibe}

 Click HERE for the Flight of the Red Kite Photographic Exhibition

 

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   FLIGHT OF THE RED KITE   2013   Photographic Exhibition

 

 

Visitors reading about the Exhibition before enjoying the story of Flight of the Red Kite in photographs.

 

June Atkinson and Harold Dobson,   Friends of Red Kites,  welcome Rena Holford and her kite.

 

 

^{Image courtesy of June Atkinson}

Ros Markham, Team Librarian : Information and Lifelong Learning peruses the Exhibition

 

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Thornley Woodlands Centre   5th - 12th May    25th - 30th May

 Two visitors looking at the photographic exhibition of Flight of the Red Kite 

 

  ^{Image courtesy of June Atkinson}

 Gateshead Civic Centre    12th March - 1st May 2013

 

 

 

Blackhall Mill   4th  -  30th April

 Here, Bella Brown and her daughter enjoy the exhibition display.

 

^{Image courtesy of June Atkinson}

Whickham Library, Main Street, Whickham     4th - 30th April

 

^{Image courtesy of Steve Lockwood}

Jackey Lockwood,  Friends of Red Kites Volunteer,  arranges the Exhibition for visitors to enjoy.

 Whickham Library is open Mon, Tues Thurs 9am - 7pm, Wed, Fri 9am - 5pm, and Sat 9am - 1pm.

 

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  Background to our Flight of the Kite Project 

   

The Friends of Red Kites secured a grant in 2012 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to finance the innovative and exciting "Flight of the Red Kite" Project. This involved creating a suite of photographs featuring the assembly of a giant 22.5m wide red kite mosaic set into the landscape of various iconic locations throughout the north-east of England.  The photographs are now on display as a touring exhibition this year.

We appointed Keith Bowey, of  Glead Ecological and Environmental Services, as Project Co-ordinator and Kaleel Zibe, of Kaleel Zibe Photography, as the official photographer.

About the Project:
There were twelve giant red kite building exercises (the 'community heritage happenings') around the region at the end of last year and the beginning of this. In each instance the kite was built by FoRK volunteers and representatives from local groups and communities. The principal purpose of the Flight of the Red Kite Project is to help people learn more about their natural heritage, using the region's red kites as a focus for this.
The giant kite mosaic  is made up of 150 polystyrene tiles which give it a 22.5 metre wing span and a measurement from beak to tail of 10.5 metres.  Images taken at the "Community Heritage Happenings " have been put together to form a roving exhibition which is touring community venues around the north east this year. The exhibition timetable is:

                                    South Shields should read  8th June - 31st August      

                                       

      The  volunteers put the final touches to the competed mosaic.

 

 

^{Images courtesy of Harold Dobson}

The second location was at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, beginning at 12.30 p.m.

The team of volunteers arrived at low tide, to begin assembling  the kite mosaic on the beach.

 

Here is a video clip of the group of volunteers, aided by visitors, assembling the mosaic of the Red Kite. 

Either double click to start the video clip or right click and choose Play/Pause and Zoom to full Screen. 

Here, the kite mosaic is finally in place, against the well-known landmark of St. Mary's Island.

Kaleel Zibe, our professional photographer, is now ready to do his photoshoot of the kite mosaic.

 

 ^{Photos and video clip courtesy of June Atkinson}

 The 5th Community Heritage Happening day

^{Image courtesy of David Jones}

The laying of the kite's head. The positioning is crucial because of the tight space in which we were working. 

Progressing nicely. The autumn colours in the museum grounds were fantastic, despite the lack of sun.

  ^{Image courtesy of David Jones}

The final pieces of the giant jigsaw puzzle are being put in place.

  ^{Image courtesy of David Jones}

Sylvia Jones (centre), the Friends of Red Kites Community Engagement Officer, chats to John and Joyce Collins from Barnard Castle about the project.. On the left hand side, Cecelia Withrington makes a final adjustment.

   ^{Image courtesy of David Jones}

The giant kite is complete and is ready for Kaleel to photograph.

 

The fourth phase of the Community Heritage Happenings

 The fourth phase of Community Heritage Happenings took place on Tuesday, 26th September, with visits to the Derwent Reservoir and Steel Rigg, Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland.

 

^{Image courtesy of June Atkinson}

Members of the team who laid out the kite mosaic at the Derwent reservoir.

 

^{Image courtesy of Keith Bowey}

The kite mosaic laid out at Steel Rigg, beside the Roman Wall.

 

^{Image courtesy of Allan Withrington}

 

^{Image courtesy of Keith Bowey}

The third phase of the Community Heritage Happenings

The third phase of Community Heritage Happenings took place on Thursday 21st September with visits to  Penshaw Monument and the Wearmouth Bridges, Sunderland.

 

Penshaw Monument 

 

At the bottom of Penshaw Monument Hill: Keith Bowey, the Project Co-ordinator, walks up to position the kite's head, the starting point for assembling the rest of the mosaic..

  

The kite's head is in position part way up the hill, which gives a good angle for photographing.

 

The long grass has to be trampled so that kite can be laid flat.

 

The grass is wet and the kite has to be pinned down with 6" nails to stop it sliding down the hill.

 

A Red Admiral butterfly takes a rest on the back of one of the tiles.

  

Nearly complete

 

The site is cleared and Kaleel, the Project photographer, takes the images to be used in the exhibition.

 

 Wearmouth Bridges, Sunderland

The wind is getting stronger. The team find a sheltered area on St Peter's Campus to assemble the kite.

 With the kite nearly complete, Kaleel takes up an elevated position ready to photograph the giant mosaic red kite.

 

Looking directly down on the kite.

 

^{Images courtesy of David Jones}

 The high rise building dominates the top left of the photograph.  Kaleel will improve on this image.

 

The second phase of the Community Heritage Happenings 

The second phase of Community Heritage Happenings took place on Thursday 13th September with visits to Marsden Beach/Rock and the Sunderland Glass Centre.  Both had challenges for the team as you will see below.

 Marsden Beach and Rock

        The view on arrival. It was going to be a race against the tide to assemble the kite on that small

        bit of beach.

 The team quickly get to work

 Nearly complete, just the right wing to do.

                                                                                                                              ^{Photograph by David Jones}

       Is the kite about to become a seabird !!!!!    Kaleel hasn't long to get the official photographs taken.

        The left wing is dismantled first in the race against the tide.

                                                                                                                                  ^{Photograph by David Jones}

 The giant red kite is rescued just in time and taken to temporary safety.

 

Sunderland Glass Centre 

  On the roof of the Glass Centre: Roy delivers the first load of the mosaic tiles.

  

                                                                                                                                   Photograph by David Jones

       The kite's head is in position. The team is waiting for confirmation from below before assembling

        the body, tail and wings.

 

                                                                                                                                     Photograph by David Jones

Sylvia Jones, centre, on the roof of the Glass Centre, giving information to visitors on the Flight of the Kite. There was quite a lot of local  interest in the project, but many foreign visitors were curious as well. There was a couple from Montreal in Canada who saw the kite being assembled from below and came to see what was going on. They were very excited. and said it added to the pleasure of their UK  tour. There were also three from Melbourne and one from Adelaide in Australia.They were a family group who had been born in the area and were revisiting their roots. They asked many questions and took pictures of Sylvia with the kite and then from below inside the Glass Centre. They wanted to show the pictures to their friends back home.

                                                                                                                                             ^{Photograph by David Jones}

Tommy and Austin are keeping watch on the kite whilst it is being photographed from below, inside the  Glass Centre . Note that some of the tiles have been weighted down as the wind started to pick up.

 

                                                                                                                                           ^{Photograph by Austin Dunphy}

  The giant mosaic red kite "flies" over the the Sunderland Glass Centre. This is the only occasion     

  that the kite can be photographed from above and below.

 

  The first phase of the Community Heritage Happenings

The first Community Heritage Happening  took place on Thursday 6th September with visits to Gibside, the Angel of the North and the Nine Arches Viaduct in Gateshead's Derwent Country Park.

  Gibside Estate

 

                                                                                                                                       ^{Photograph by David Jones}

We helped Keith Bowey the project co-ordinator to unload the tiles from the kitemobile.The tiles were then assembled by the team surprisingly quickly.

                                                                                                                                         ^{Photograph by David Jones}

National Trust volunteers assisted us with the assembly.

^{Photograph by David Jones}  

 Our engagement team talked to members of the public who were obviously fascinated by this event. 

Two of the volunteers sporting their Heritage Lottery Fund T - shirts.

With the giant red kite complete, Kaleel Zibe, our professional photographer, took a series of photographs from a variety of vantage points.

 

The Angel of the North

 

We quickly dismantled the kite and went to the Angel of the North.There were a few technical difficulties with a strong wind and limited space for assembly.These were resolved quickly and the volunteer team sprang into action once again.

                                                                                                                                           ^{Photograph by David Jones}

A brief rest for lunch before we dismantled the kite and transferred to the Derwent Reservoir.

 Derwent Reservoir 

                                                                                                                                   ^{Photograph by David Jones}

At Derwent Reservoir the grass on the dam wall had been cut in readiness for the next giant kite assembly.  Unfortunately very strong and gusting winds made it unsafe to assemble the kite at this location.

Nine Arches Viaduct in the Derwent Country Park

                                                                                                                                ^{Photograph by David Jones}

We returned to the Derwent Valley to assemble the giant kite near the Nine Arches Viaduct. We had interest from equine as well as human residents.The final shoot proved to be a great technical challenge as uneven ground and strengthening winds tested our ingenuity to the limit.

 

                                                                                                                               ^{Photograph by David Jones}

The head and shoulders were put together first at this location.

                                                                                                                                   ^{Photograph by David Jones}

 The final touches are being made to the giant red kite before the final photographs of the day are taken by professional photographer Kaleel Zibe. The shoot was successfully completed and a tiring but satisfying day came to an end.The first three locations were complete.