"Windmill" Kite by Michael Thompson

Chicago-based artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites crafted from split bamboo frames covered with stretched muslin and a collage of vintage Asian ephemera—including fragments of fabric, scrolls, drawings, and books collected during his travels.

Staying within a neutral color palette, this kite plays with pattern and color, arranging printed silks and paper scraps on an octagonal frame. Like the blades of a windmill, four illustrations of a Chinese wedding procession form a cross at the center of the kite. The changing orientation introduces a cyclical motion, perhaps in reference to the cycle of life and the forward push of linear time.

Thompson has earned an international reputation for his kite works, an engrossing project initiated by the artist more than a decade ago.