The kites range in size from the nine foot tall Balinesian bebean with a 140 tail made and flown by a team dressed in identical sarongs and turbans to a single leaf kite, sometimes made from a single palmyra palm leaf. Elephant kites painted on nylon taffeta fly in trains, trunks swaying similar to their progress through the forest. From Sulawesi come leaf kites in diamond picture shapes with attached hummers. A bamboo base is strung like a loom so that leaves can be woven through the strings.
Leaves are available to touch.
The No. 1 peoples sport, kite fighting, is also represented by two different sized kites. These hand painted lozenge shaped kites fly with the highly prized cutting line. They swoop and dive luring their opponent into positions so they may cut their line from the sky. The Indonesian Exhibit will be on display until summer 2000.