Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: May 31, 2004
Article Type: Journal

Born and raised in Raton, New Mexico, in the American Southwest, where his father was a lawyer, Scott Skinner, now 50, graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and served 7 1/2 years as a flight officer, achieving the rank of captain. Initially a KC135 tanker co-pilot, he returned to the academy as a pilot-instructor flying low and slow “bug-smasher” T41s. Leaving the Air Force, Skinner earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Denver and settled into a career as manager of family investments. He and wife Sheridan have three children, now grown. They live in Monument, Colorado, within sight of Pike’s Peak.

Skinner has been pursuing his kite hobby since l975, “begun as a relief from flying planes and because of a continuing fascination with aerodynamics,” he says. He began making kites intensively after learning to sew. “Living in Colorado is conducive to kitemaking,” he says. “It’s cold and windy from October through February and that’s when I build kites.”

Skinner hit on the concept of combining traditional American patchwork bed quilt designs with traditional Japanese kite forms to create a unique West-East hybrid. From this evolved the reproduction of images from Japanese paintings, such as fish or water motifs, that when pieced together in new combinations formed surprising, pleasing juxtapositions. A meticulous craftsman, Skinner’s large Rokkakus, Edos, hexagons, octagons and, latterly, paper miniatures have won him widespread acclaim.

PDF Link: Page 4 Journal Issue 15