Robert F.M. Valkenburgh
Sculptor,Kitebuilder, Aeolist (Wind musician)

Born in the Netherlands on Dec. 19, 1953
Flew kites as a kid, as most kids do, for a few years.
Came into contact again with kites around 1982, when a friend came by and showed me an Acro-racer.
Then the virus hit !!!
I soon started building my own kites, from plastic and wood, since I did not have the funds for more sophisticated materials.
Always busy creating, I soon had built me quite a number of kites, some small, some large.
Starting to visit more and more Festivals, I really got into the Spirit of Kiting !
All those people, still having the ability to play, still retaining the child inside ! All those worldwide Friendships, the helpfulness , the lack of racial or social status.
Wonderful !! I really found my niche !
So, slowly I felt confident enough to start designing my own kites, which then became the Probe Series.
In the early 90’s I also started to build Aeolian Instruments, and that attracted a lot of attention!
Dieppe,France,in ’96, was the birthplace of the first real ‘Windgarden’, and look where it has gone since !!!
It also brought me my first kite-design contest prize : Second place ,with my Probe 7 design.
More were to follow: Grants for Probe 10 and 11 (Detmold Art Kite Museum,Germany), Best of Show (Southampton,UK)for Probe 14 .
And twice First Prize in the Dieppe Aeolian Design Contest (France)
Every year, I add various new Instruments to my collection, and am currently working on some Aeolian Harps.

Various other projects were successful too:
Several International TV and Radio programs, Experimental Music Performances, Workshops with children and adults,
Permanently placed Aeolian Instruments and projects together with various artists in multiple disciplines, Land Art Projects, both temporary and permanent.

Next to all this, I started sculpting in stone, about two years ago.
I already had worked a lot in other materials like wood, steel and glass, but not yet with stone.
I just (2011, april) finished a piece in Carrara Marble.
And more is to follow………………
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