Kite Day offers children closer look at new gallery installation

Kite Day offers children closer look at new gallery installation

Children and their families are invited to celebrate Jacob Hashimoto’s new installation at Rice Gallery Saturday, April 9, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Attendees can pick up a free family guide to learn more about “Superabundant Atmosphere,” make their own trail mix, create an origami kite and enjoy traditional Japanese dance performances and a tea ceremony courtesy of the Consulate General of Japan at Houston. Kite Day is free and open to the public.

The new installation is on display through April 17 and includes 9,000 tiny, shimmering white “kites,” each handmade from silk glued over a tied bamboo frame. These kites were strung together and suspended from the gallery ceiling, creating an enormous sculptural cloud rising upward and outward from the rear of the gallery. “Superabundant Atmosphere” is characterized by repetitive handwork — tying, knotting and gluing.

Although Hashimoto makes use of traditional kite-making materials and techniques, the small kites that form his installations do not actually fly. Instead, they are the modular units that he multiplies and arranges into structures that, while monumental in scale, appear to be weightless. As the light that streams through the gallery’s front window changes throughout the day, so too, does the appearance of “Superabundant Atmosphere.” Sometimes the installation seems buoyant and ethereal, while at other times it appears to be a solid mass.

For more information, call 713-348-6069 or visit <www.ricegallery.org>.