Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: May 31, 2006
Article Type: Journal

“The idea of flying has interested me since I was small,” says Anna Rubin. “I remember dreaming it. I made myself a set of wings. Remembering this when I started teaching many years later, I wondered how I could explain the fascination of flying to kids. Kites, I decided.”

Anna came to kites in a serious way in her early 20s while a student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Her very first kite typically had an original and personal touch: The Malay she made had a tail of feathers. She soon found her way to the Fly High kite store in downtown Vienna and she was advised to attend a kite festival to have her questions answered.

Attending the popular Cervia, Italy, fly near her home village of Goltschach, near Klagenfurt, in southern Austria, Anna had the good luck to team up with Robert Trepanier, of Canada, an international kiting figure of great charm and knowledge. “Bobby Three Baskets,” as he is affectionately known, taught her how to split bamboo, tie knots, attach paper sails to frame, bow the kite, and make an adjustable bridle. On her first day under his tutelage she made a small, delicate, highly original kite she still owns. “I was so happy when it flew well,” she recalls.

PDF Link: Journal Issue