Art

SFO layover? See Art of African Instruments

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If you’re arriving, departing or making a connection at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), be sure to leave some time to explore some of the museum-quality exhibits offered by the SFO Museum.

The newest exhibition comes to SFO Airport courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. It features bells, rattles, harp lutes, drums, slit gongs, and lamellophones or “thumb pianos” from the West and Central African countries of Liberia, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Here’s a bit about the exhibit from the museum:

Africa’s rich cultural heritage encompasses a tremendous range of music, musical instruments, and performing arts. The variety of instruments made and used in Africa ranges from drums, xylophones, and zithers, to electric guitars and keyboards. Many traditional musical instruments appear utilitarian, while others are embellished with geometric, anthropomorphic, and zoomorphic features, allowing them to simultaneously serve as works of art.

Take a look at a few images from the exhibit below and see the rest of the instruments in SFO’s Harvey Milk Terminal 1 through April 13, 2025.

(Images courtesy SFO Museum)

Fresh art at Reno-Taho International Airport

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Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) is celebrating the grand opening of its newly expanded Ticketing Hall.

Sadly, the new ticketing hall does not bring us the pneumatic “Travel Tubes” teased on April 1 that would allow passengers to go whiz straight from the airport lobby to the gate.

But travelers will benefit from 10,000 square feet of new ticketing lobby space and the airport’s first, site-specific public art commission.

The Ticketing Hall expansion is part of RNO’s “MoreRNO” infrastructure program, which promises a ‘new era’ for the airport and more than $1 billion in targeted improvements.

RNO’s new public art is a 450-foot-long piece by Dixie Friend Gay titled “Repeated Refrains.”

It will be hard to miss there on the wall behind the airline ticket counters.

The work references northern Nevada’s diverse environment, which includes forested mountains, vegetation-covered hillsides and desert valleys. It is divided into four sections, each dedicated to a different season and portraying the colors and diverse ecosystems that can be found within a 100-mile radius of Reno.

Airline Travel Posters from the SFO Museum Collection 

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Artists of the Airways: Airline Travel Posters from the SFO Museum Collection is the newest exhibition at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

On view in the Aviation Museum and Library in the SFO’s International Terminal, the exhibit features the work of some wonderful airline poster artists from the early 1930s to 1980s.

Here’s a bit about the art of airline posters from the exhibition description: 

With the advent of commercial aviation in the late 1910s and 1920s, and the novelty of traveling by airplane, artists initially illustrated aircraft on their posters to attract customers through this emerging medium of mass production.

During the 1930s, as commercial carriers expanded their fleets, routes, and services, artists soon began incorporating illustrations of the destinations as well, in conjunction with the airlines’ appeal to their target audience of primarily affluent American tourists.

These often included landscapes, landmarks, people, flora, and fauna intended to promote the airline’s service to the viewer. Although posters usually contained descriptive text, poster artists created images that were designed to convey a message the viewer would immediately understand.

All the posters reproduced in this exhibition are from the SFO Museum Collection, which consists of nearly thirteen hundred airline posters, from the 1920s to the present.

Look for Artists of the Airways: Airline Travel Posters from the SFO Museum Collection pre-security in the Aviation Museum and Library in the International Terminal of San Francisco International Airport through October 5, 2025.

Science snaps on display at Rapid City Regional Airport

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Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP) in South Dakota is welcoming travelers with a temporary art exhibition, “The Science at SURF: Images from the Underground, Lead, SD.”

Located in the former site of the Homestake Gold Mine, SURF is now an underground research facility whose tagline tells us, “Scientists probe the depths of space to learn more about our place in the universe.”

The exhibit includes photographs snapped within the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) by SURF photographers Matthew Kapust and Stephen Kenny. Here’s a sampling.

Gloved hands work on delicate wiring in a cryostat.
Geologists drill holes to extract core samples of rock.

Images in concrete at Miami Int’l Airport

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If you’re traveling to or through Miami International Airport (MIA), take a minute to visit the airport’s CameraWork Gallery at Gates D22 and D25.

A new exhibit in that gallery features photographs of concrete structures in Miami and Havana that were designed by Cuban architects who fled the island after the Cuban Revolution.

The photographs are by Miami-based Cuban photographer Silvia Ros and portray sites such as the Miami Marine Stadium, Miami Dade College’s North and South campuses, and Havana’s legendary Nautical Club (Club Náutico).

Parque Jose Marti Stadium (1959-60). Photo courtesy of the artist.

On display through June 10, 2024, Connecting Concrete: Modernist Architecture from Havana to Miami is a collaboration between Ros and art director, designer, and writer Tim Hossler.

The exhibition features 12 architectural photographs taken in Havana, Cuba, and Miami, Florida, from 2015 to 2023. The photographs are grouped by city, with Havana images from Ros’s project Cuba Modern at D22 and Miami images from Concrete Miami at D25. 

“Miami is well known for its beachside Art Deco, famous landmarks, MiMo motels, and the vital residential areas, but the relationships between Miami and Cuba are reflected in many significant buildings and environments,” said Ros. “These buildings deserve the honor of being acknowledged and documented, not only for their storied pasts but for future generations who may not have the opportunity to interact with these buildings as we have.”

Miami Marine Stadium (1964). Photo courtesy of the artist.

“Concrete architecture in Miami and Havana exudes a poetic beauty that transcends the utilitarian nature of the material,” said Hossler. “Though distinct in their cultural and historical backgrounds, these cities share a common thread of embracing concrete as a canvas for artistic expression.” 

Fresh art + lots of music at Nashville Int’l Airport

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Not for nothing is Nashville, Tennessee known as Music City.

And the tunes start right at Nashville International Airport (BNA). There, live performances featuring all manner of musical styles, from traditional and contemporary country to rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, gospel, and bluegrass are presented on stages located near the A/B Waiting Lounge, the C/D Waiting Lounge, and in the Concourse C Food Court (beyond security).

If you’re headed that way, check out the BNA events calendar filled with live performances. And be sure to take a moment to listen up when you land.

(Photo above: Singer-songwriter Joe West, dubbed the “house band” for Nashville International Airport)

Fresh Art at Nashville International Airport

(Artist: DeShawn Lewis)

While you’re at Nashville International Airport, look for the art as well.

The Spring/Summer installment of the Flying Solo series at Nashville International Airport is on view through June 23, 2024, showcasing the works of talented Nashville artists including Daniel Arite, Sarah Clinton, Joel Keas, DaShawn Lewis, Josh MacLeod, Vanessa Sharp Multon, Tammy O’Connor, and Mary Ruden.

Here’s a preview of what you’ll see:

(Artist: Joel Keas)

(Artist Daniel Arite)

(Artist: Sara Clinton)

(Artist: Joshua MacLeod)

John Wayne Airport celebrates Orange County’s musical legacy

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A new exhibition at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, CA celebrates the region’s musical legacy.

That OC Sound includes displays dedicated to famous musicians and bands, and two prominent musical instrument manufacturers, Fender and Rickenbacker.

Almost 50 bands and solo artists that got their start in Orange County – or at least have one member from the area – are featured in a large two-case display. Familiar names on the faux record covers in the exhibit include James Taylor, Cold War Kids, Atreyu, Social Distortion, and, No Doubt.

Orange County is home to Fender and Rickenbacker, two iconic guitar manufacturers.

The Rickenbacker factory is down the street from John Wayne Airport, and the factory loaned archival materials and brand-new instruments to the exhibit.

Two display cases include items on loan from local Fender collectors and the Leo Fender Museum, which is part of the Fullerton Museum Center, about 20 minutes from John Wayne Airport, in downtown Fullerton, CA.

That OC Sound exhibition at John Wayne Airport can be found in the Destination Gallery, pre-security on the upper Departures Level between Terminals B & C through May 1, 2024.

 

We met Tampa Int’l Airport’s giant flamingo

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The Stuck at The Airport arts team is a big fan of big art at airports.

And Tampa International Airport’s (TPA) giant flamingo doesn’t disappoint.

The sculpture is 21 feet tall and lives in TPA’s main terminal. The creation of artist Matthew Mazzota, the sculpture is officially titled “Home.” But thanks to a naming contest hosted by the airport last year, the big bird is now better known as Phoebe.

We finally got to meet Phoebe in person and have to say we are just wowed.

The flamingo isn’t the only newish big work of art at TPA Airport. And far from the only appealing artwork in TPA’s impressive public art collection.

Aaron Stephan’s “Paths Rising,” in the Main Terminal walkway to SkyConnect Station, is composed of over 600 ladders set inside a light well and positioned to imply a portal to what lies beyond.

(Courtesy TPA Airport)

Fresh art at O’Hare Int’l Airport

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If you’re traveling through Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) over the holidays and are passing through Terminal 5 (T5) you’re in for an art-filled treat.

The installation of a $3.5 million public art commission featuring work by more than 20 Chicago artists is nearly complete and it’s pretty darn impressive.

Here is a selection of the works you’ll be able to see.

Above is a part of the piece titled a murmuration by Jina Valentine, which consists of 600 wall-mounted convex aluminum discs of varying sizes on view in the Passenger Level Concourse.

The artwork is a data visualization mapping over 200 years of immigration to the Illinois region. The color shifts as you move from one end of the piece to the other, illustrating the changes in immigration patterns over time.

Shinsekai Yori / From the New World (above), by Mayumi Lake is on view in the T5 International Arrivals Corridor.

Buffalo Chart at O’Hare, by Bernard Williams, is also in the International Arrivals Corridor.

In addition to all the new works on view in Terminal 5, you’ll find art in Terminal 1, Terminal 2, the Terminal 3 Rotunda, the muli-modal transportation facility, and elsewhere on the O’Hare Airport Campus.

Queen Charlotte returns to Charlotte Douglas Int’l AIrport

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Charlotte Douglas Int’l Airport welcomes back Queen Charlotte

Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is hard at work on Destination CLT, the airport’s $4 billion capital investment program.

And the Terminal Lobby Expansion (TLE) is a $608 million piece of that project.

The west side of the TLE opened in July, 2022. And now the east side of that section is set to open at the end of October.

This section delivers about 90,000 square feet of new space, access to the east subterranean walkway, and TSA’s Checkpoint 1, with eight screening lanes. .

Travelers through this new east side lobby area will also find large windows, terrazo flooring, bright blue tile frames for the entrances and exits, and new sculptures and murals.

Pasengers will also see an old friend.

While construction has been underway, the airport’s statue of Queen Charlotte was moved out the way and then taken offsite for a restoration and a repatina.

Now she’s back.

Last week, airport officials unveiled the refreshed 3,000-pound, 15-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Queen Charlotte, back on top of a 30-foot tall base.

The Queen Charlotte statue is now in the center of the Queen’s Court, the name for the Terminal Lobby Expansion space. Queen’s Court is also home to Queen Charlotte’s Kitchen. This is CLT’s first pre-security sit-down dining option, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as wine, beer and cocktails.

How did the Queen Charlotte get to CLT?

In the late 1980’s a local group put up $250,000 to commission an airport sculpture to symbolize the city and greet CLT passengers.

Washington, D.C., artist Raymond Kaskey won the commission and his statue of Queen Charlotte was dedicated on Sept. 18, 1990.

For many years the statue stood on a fountain in an outdoor plaza between CLT’s hourly parkng decks. She’s been been moved around and taken off site for several years to accomodate airport construction.

Here’s a video of Raymond Kaskey talking about the getting the initial commission for the project and creating the sculpture.

(All photos courtesy CLT)