Beth Matthews
When
Beth was young she received a pale, sick green, gas-filled balloon, picturing
Amy Johnson, aviatrix, in Flying Helmet and goggles and made flour-paste, newspaper,
paling strip, non-flying kites. Later Beth went small-plane flying with her
brother and made kites while teaching art. She ran out of "quick'n'easies" for
Primary kids, so in the late 70's resolved to design some new paperfolds. She
researched and made standard kites until she grasped the principles involved,
and became interested In tail-less kites, making experimental birds. In the
1980's she joined the AKA, and went to China with paperfold kites. She followed
up this trip by teaching herself how to handle bamboo, and use Chinese-type
construction to make Australian birds and butterflies, working from observation
and photos. She observed different wing forms, positions and flight behaviour
of birds, became fascinated in trying to create particular flight characteristics,
e.g. the V-form and M- Form of wings in flight, while trying to create body-forms
which remained parallel to ground while the wings maintained angle, always to
fly from a single point for variety of movement. She discovered a way to produce
a spontaneous, life-like flap, but could not standardize it, so continued to
seek a way of extending the tolerance to windspeeds greater than a mere puff.
She constantly changes structure from kite to kite, and accumulated a number
of paperfold designs, which she turned into a book. Her bird kites were included
in the Penrith Gallery Exhibition "A Bird's Eye View", being works on birds
Australian Artists. Beth conducts workshops and demonstration flys throughout
Victoria, and is still looking for new ways of construction with man-made materials
to produce veracity in flight characteristics. More than anything, she enjoys
attracting and observing live birds reacting with her parrots
, seagulls and butterflies
.
Return to AKA home page.
When
Beth was young she received a pale, sick green, gas-filled balloon, picturing
Amy Johnson, aviatrix, in Flying Helmet and goggles and made flour-paste, newspaper,
paling strip, non-flying kites. Later Beth went small-plane flying with her
brother and made kites while teaching art. She ran out of "quick'n'easies" for
Primary kids, so in the late 70's resolved to design some new paperfolds. She
researched and made standard kites until she grasped the principles involved,
and became interested In tail-less kites, making experimental birds. In the
1980's she joined the AKA, and went to China with paperfold kites. She followed
up this trip by teaching herself how to handle bamboo, and use Chinese-type
construction to make Australian birds and butterflies, working from observation
and photos. She observed different wing forms, positions and flight behaviour
of birds, became fascinated in trying to create particular flight characteristics,
e.g. the V-form and M- Form of wings in flight, while trying to create body-forms
which remained parallel to ground while the wings maintained angle, always to
fly from a single point for variety of movement. She discovered a way to produce
a spontaneous, life-like flap, but could not standardize it, so continued to
seek a way of extending the tolerance to windspeeds greater than a mere puff.
She constantly changes structure from kite to kite, and accumulated a number
of paperfold designs, which she turned into a book. Her bird kites were included
in the Penrith Gallery Exhibition "A Bird's Eye View", being works on birds
Australian Artists. Beth conducts workshops and demonstration flys throughout
Victoria, and is still looking for new ways of construction with man-made materials
to produce veracity in flight characteristics. More than anything, she enjoys
attracting and observing live birds reacting with her parrots
, seagulls and butterflies
.
