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Here is a radio interview with CBC radio
about the new partnership between the Bell Museum and the Kite Museum.
CBC Radio interview.
For more about the Alexander Graham
Bell/Parks Canada museum in Baddeck, Cape Breton click here:
Bell Museum Below are some
pictures of our joint exhibit in Baddeck.
 
 
This is an article about the exhibit.
Kites of the World exhibit flying high at Bell museum
webkites
Published on July 29, 2011
Staff ~ The Cape Breton Post
BADDECK — Alexander Graham Bell’s Kites of the World exhibit at the Bell
museum is averaging 200 visitors a day since it opened on Parks Canada Day
in early July.
Topics :
Aerial Experiment Association ,
Parks Canada ,
Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site ,
Indonesia ,
Baddeck ,
Germany
The exhibit features three different components: An interactive touch screen
for kids, a gallery of nine colourful kites from around the world and a
tetrahedral workshop that gives kids and families the chance to build
something to show how they are inspired.
“Kites of the World is the first significant change in exhibits at the
museum in a few years,” explained Mark Sajatovich, project co-ordinator for
exhibit redevelopment at Parks Canada at the Alexander Graham Bell National
Historic Site. “It has allowed us to partner with the Kite Museum of Pelee
Island, Ont., and its director George Paisiovich and use their expertise in
developing what has turned out to be a most popular exhibit.”
Bell’s work with the Aerial Experiment Association was a large part of his
life in Baddeck, from his early kite-flying experiments to the flight of the
Silver Dart airplane in February 1909.
“Bell came up with the tetrahedral kite cell which he patented in 1902,”
Sajatovich said. “While we take it for granted now, it was a fundamental
building block. At that time it was a critical piece of innovation. People
are fascinated to learn that the Silver Dart started out with a tetrahedral
kite cell.”
The kite exhibit, located between the area dedicated to the Aerial
Experiment Association and the hydrofoil exhibit, explores the history,
culture and the inspiration of kites and ties it to places Bell visited
during his world tour in 1910.
“Whether it is from Germany, Japan, Indonesia or India, these are all kites
that Bell would have seen during his world tour.”
The exhibit includes a centipede kite from China composed of trains with a
dragon head and a train of equally dimensioned kite disks, a North American
barn door kite which was used for lifting meteorological instruments, a
signed fighter kite used in the movie “The Kite Runner” and, constructed by
the same kite builder, a kite from Indonesia made of leaves of the
breadfruit tree used by Indonesians for fishing, an act depicted on
Indonesian currency, and a 100-year-old L’Aigloplan from France, a variation
of a French military or vented keel kite.
“We have a lot of international visitors and they are drawn to the Kites of
the World Exhibit, which directly reflects their culture and ties into
Bell’s history.”
With the opening of the Kites of the World exhibit, the new and improved
museum store and the newly opened Tetra cafe are now located in the front
hall of the museum.
There is no admission to the museum store or the cafe, which are operated by
the Alexander Graham Bell Museum Association.
“Over the next few years we are redeveloping the interior of the museum and
part of phase one was to redevelop the front of the building,” Sajatovich
said. “Now, during their stay with us, people can also visit the museum
shop, relax with a coffee and a snack and enjoy the view of the harbour.”
jcollins@cbpost.com
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