Jerome Daksiewicz does.

ORD Runways

He got the idea for the Airport Runway Screenprint Series while working on an architectural project and stumbling across an aerial imagery of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Google Earth.

“I simply redrew Sky Harbor, vectorizing the runways and taxiways, then redrew Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago O’Hare,” said Daksiewicz. He let those sit a while and then went back and made runway diagrams for MSP, SFO, LHR, ATL and others.

SFO Runways

Why runways?

“I like how the runways are so purely functional, disregarded by the beauty and attention of multimillion dollar terminals; many of them considered architectural masterpieces. I like how the runways themselves are interconnected and defined by the context of their cities, such as DEN’s weather and wind patterns. And I like how airports are our new gateways: runway concrete or asphalt connecting our cities as the airplane’s wheels first and last points of contact between our destinations.”

Daksiewicz has posted all his airport runway diagrams on the NOMO Design website, where he’s also offering them for sale.

Now there are even more reasons to hightail it to Baltimore. This weekend the city welcomes its newest attraction: The National Pinball Museum.

Here’s the story I put together about the museum for msnbc.com Travel:

David Silverman, founder of the National Pinball Museum opening Saturday, Jan. 14, in Baltimore, Md., first discovered the coin-operated, arcade-game known as pinball when he was 4 years old.

“Back then, New York was one of the cities that banned pinball,” Silverman, 63, told msnbc.com. “Lawmakers considered it gambling and they thought it was associated with the mafia. So I first saw a pinball machine while on a vacation with my parents in upstate New York.”

Silverman grew up to be an avid pinball player and, eventually, a pinball machine collector. “My first machine was ‘Fireball,’ which was made by Bally, a major pinball company. My wife liked the game, so we kept it lit up in the living room. One game led to another and now I have more than 900 machines.”

While searching for parts and people to repair and maintain the machines in his collection, Silverman learned the history of pinball and discovered that it had roots reaching back to the 18th century.

“The early games were handmade and were played liked billiards with a cue stick,” said Silverman. “Then the coil spring came along and the cue stick was replaced by the plunger. Flippers didn’t come along until 1947, but that changed pinball from a game of chance to a game of skill.”

Like the metal balls in the pinball machines, the National Pinball Museum has been bounced around. Until it lost its lease in September 2011, the museum was located in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood. It’s new location, in Baltimore’s attraction-rich Inner Harbor, is smaller (two floors instead of four) but still offers a history gallery with original artwork and more than 40 vintage machines and an interactive gallery with more than 50 working machines, including some classic film and TV-themed machines dating back the 1940s and 50s, that may be played.

If you go:

The National Pinball Museum is located at 608 Water St. in Baltimore, Md., and will be open Friday-Sunday beginning Jan. 14. Admission tickets include play time on the machines in the museum’s Pinhead Gallery.

The cafe opened in late December 2011 and is the fifth Juan Valdez at a U.S. airport. (JFK and Newark airports each have two Juan Valdez cafes.)

While I’m sure the Juan Valdez coffee is delicious, if it’s coffee you’re after at MIA, you should really try the traditional Cuban coffee served at Cafe Versailles (five locations), the Cafe La Carreta (Terminal E, 1st level) and the La Carreta Restaurant (Terminal D, Gate D3).

While you’re there, be sure to spend a few moments in the art gallery located just beyond the security checkpoint at Central Terminal E. An exhibit titled Sewn Dreams features the work of fiber artist Dina Knapp, whose client list has included artist, dancers and celebrities such as Cher, Bob Marley, Joanne Woodward and Phyllis Diller.

Bob Marley - from the Sewn Dreams exhibit at Miami International Airport

Marian Anderson by John W. Mosley

The Philadelphia International Airport has a fine new exhibit up featuring work by Philadelphia photographer John W. Mosley (1907-1969), a self-taught photojournalist who specialized in documenting African-American culture in the city.

According to the exhibit notes, Mosely was a prolific photographer who was known to photograph up to four events every day and whose work was published in numerous African-American newspapers, including the renowned Philadelphia Tribune.

Joe Frazier by John W. Mosley

Today, John W. Mosley’s photographs and negatives, estimated to number about 300,000, are preserved in the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection of Temple University Libraries. In 1984, the collection was donated by historian, author, and bibliophile, Charles L. Blockson, who amassed one of the nation’s largest private collections of manuscripts, rare books, sheet music, letters, prints, drawings and objects related to the history and culture of people of African descent.

John W. Mosley: Photographs of Philadelphia’s African-American Community, 1930s-1960s, From the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia” is located between Terminals E and F at Philadelphia International Airport and is open to the public through May 2012.

John Mosely, Self-portrait

A new exhibit on Concourse T at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport features 51 puppets from around the world, all on loan from the Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts.

In addition to the chickens (above), you’ll see traditional puppets, such as Punch and Judy, marionettes, hand-puppets and string puppets and non-traditional ones, such as those used for traditional Vietnamese water puppetry, in which puppeteers stand in chest-high pools and use the water as a stage.

Among my many favorites are the giant indoor slide –

And the sunflower and butterfly gardens -

The airport goes all out during the holidays with floral displays and decorations and this year the airport has installed a series of giant topiaries (plants and shrubs grown and shaped into figures and structures) in the form of iconic landmarks from around the world. Look for the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Temple of Heaven, Singapore’s Merlion and others.

Chrysalis had been made for and installed in the airport’s new passenger terminal back in 2008, as part of the $4 million collection of permanent public art work that had been commissioned for the building from 17 artists and six poets.

But at IND airport, “permanent” doesn’t seem to mean what we thought. Faust’s work is to be replaced by what the airport calls an “innovative LED video wall … that will feature video-based artworks and commercial advertising.”

The video wall, to be installed in time for holiday travel, will be 22 feet wide and 7.5 feet tall and, in addition to advertising, will feature a video art series put together by curators from the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

According to a release from the airport, in its first year, the On Screen art program will feature Perm Press: The American Cycle (2011), a video by Indianapolis-based artist Artur Silva that runs about a minute and includes images of Abraham Lincoln and other American icons. A project by New York-based Nina Katchadourian called Seat Assignment (2011) will follow.

In a statement, airport authority CEO John Clark said the removal of Chrysalis and the installment of the video wall was a decision made in part “to remain competitive and support our goal of being the airport system of choice.”

But many local residents, including Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard, were disappointed in the decision.

“Mayor Ballard has long believed and publicly stated that visitors to our city should be welcomed by a high profile display of public art,” said Mark Lotter of the mayor’s office.

Faust also issued a statement that said in part, “We believe this defiant and perceived underhanded action speaks for itself.”

Sharon Taffet: Fanciful Footwear.

“…[I]nspired by Philadelphia author Jennifer Weiner, who wrote ‘In Her Shoes,’ Taffet began to create a series of embellished, one-of-a-kind footwear. Using only a single shoe or boot – never working with pairs – she thematically decorates and adorns them with fun items such as costume jewelry, feathers, artificial fruit and foliage, shells, candy, playing cards and dice. Decorated with a variety of different textures, patterns and colors, a regular store-bought shoe is transformed into a sculptural work of art. Each shoe is fanciful and whimsical and provides viewers with a decorative delight.”

Sharon Taffet: Fanciful Footwear will be on display in Terminal D through February 2012.

When you do, rush over to the pre-security departure lobby of the International Terminal Main Hall to see the exhibition of automata and “self-moving” mechanical creations on loan from the Morris Museum in Morristown New Jersey, which houses the incredible Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata.

Here’s a link to a radio piece I produced about the collection for NPR back in the 2005.

The piece was created for the airport’s new rental car facility by Ned Kahn and features hundreds of hinged aluminum elements that sway in the wind, mimicking a grass-like effect.

Here’s a bit of Kahn’s artist statement about the work:
“…Even from a great distance, the proposed sculpture functions as a dynamic beacon for the airport. Similar to watching the wind blow through a field of tall grass or the wind playing on the surface of water, the artwork fosters a welcoming mood of contemplation and wonder. My hope is that the artwork will function as a register for the ever-changing wind and create a unique kinetic portal for Nashville that will remind people of the magic and mystery of the world that we live in.”

Nashville International Airport has lots of other permanent and temporary art work, art exhibits and live music year-round. If you’re heading that way, be sure to check the schedule so you don’t miss something really great.