A new exhibition at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) features a collection of work by Minnesota-based wood artists.
The Art of the Grain exhibition highlights the work of 15 artists and, as you can see, they are all incredibly talented.
The exhibition is in MSP Terminal 1, the Airport Mall, and is on view through September 30, 2022.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has three new art exhibitions to look for next time you pass through.
Presented in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the exhibits feature works by two solo artists and one group exhibition. The artwork includes large-scale printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, painting, and multi-media artworks across three terminals.
“Out of the Blue“ is a group exhibition of paintings, ceramics, and mixed-media works. Look for this in the Terminal 7 art gallery adjacent to the security screening area. (Ticketed passengers only)
“Your Body is a Space That Sees“ by Los Angeles artist Lia Halloran is accessible to ticketed passengers in Terminal 1 at Gate 9. The images combine ink and light to celebrate women’s contributions to astronomy.
The large-scale cyanotype prints source historical imagery from a group of Harvard women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when views of the night sky were captured in photographic emulsion on glass plates.
“This body of work is really meant to honor the invaluable work that female astronomers contributed to their field,” Halloran says. “Without these discoveries, we would be nowhere near where we are now in terms of being able to measure and understand the universe.”
“Tumbleweeds,” by Pontus Willfors, is a site-specific installation featuring hand-crafted, botanical sculptures manipulated from wood. The sculptures are inspired by tumbleweeds found in the Mojave Desert, which extends into the northeastern part of Los Angeles County. Look for this work in the Tom Bradley International Terminal customs hallway.
LAX also has a fun Selfie Guided Tour of community art located in the pre-screening areas of Terminals 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7.
Start at the Theme Building, located in the center of the Central Terminal Area, and walk the mile-route to view all nine pieces of art. The artwork is displayed on large walls and creates an opportunity to snap selfiez to share on social media using #LAXSelfieGuidedTour.
Photos by SKA Studios LLC., courtesy of Los Angeles World Airports and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Many people dread and try desperately to avoid long airport layovers. Not us. On our journey to the Galapagos, we swapped a stress-inducing 56-minute connection at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) for a four-hour layover at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
Just so we could get a tour of the art.
Alton DuLaney, Director and Curator of the Public Art Program for the Houston Airport System, was kind enough to meet me for a tour of some of his favorites. You can see the full list, with photos, in our story for The Points Guy site.
But I’ve pulled out a couple of my favorites here.
The Houston Airport, which operates both IAH and Hobby Airport (HOU) owns more than 350 works of art, one of the largest public art collections in Texas. Art curator DuLaney is a proponent of displaying as much of the collection as possible. So if you take a walk in any direction at the airport you will spot art. Some of it you’ll love. Some of it you may not care for. But all of it adds to the experience of being at the airport.
Countree Music (the ‘tree’ image above), is one of the first works purchased for the airport back in 1991. It is in Terminal A and was created by singer-songwriter Terry Allen. He also created the terrazzo floor surrounding the tree that depicts a map showing Houston as the center of the world. Pick a spot to stand on that floor near the tree and listen: there’s an original soundtrack of 16 songs recorded by Allen with the help of various musicians, including David Byrne from the Talking Heads.
The Terminal A Connector Gallery is both filled with art and is a great spot to avoid the noise and hustle of the airport. Here, away from the gates and the overhead announcements, you’ll find 20 vitrines filled with new and existing artwork from the collection- sometimes in the same display case.
For example, Fiesta Dancers by Luis Jimenez is paired with High Flying by Larry Schuekler. “Both sculptures explore the joy of dance from two different cultural perspectives,” says DuLaney.
(Photos courtesy Houston Airports)
You know how during the airline safety instructions (you pay attention, right?) they say the nearest exit may be behind you?
Well, sometimes at the airport the coolest art features may be below you.
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) one of the artworks is a river of 300 brass fish running along the terrazzo floor in Concourse B.
The work is called Flying Fish and is by Judith and Daniel Caldwell.
Most of the fish are regular fish, but there are some unusual ones in there.
Including the fish spotted swimming with a suitcase.
We’ve been walking over the floor and appreciating the fish for years, but yesterday was the first time we noticed this bonus traveling fish.
Maybe it was because it was early in the day and we could actually take our time walking down the concourse.
But we think it was because after being so nervous about traveling during the pandemic, we’re finally starting to go back to our normal travel mode of being excited to travel and alert to everything around us.
Even the art on airport floors.
Few airport rental car centers are places you want to hang out in for longer than you have to.
But the rental car center at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is an exception.
The big, bright, open lobby has a cafe in the center with comfortable chairs and there’s artwork from the collection of the Phoenix Airport Museum all over the facility, including down the hallways that lead to the restrooms.
Here’s a link to a guided tour of the art on display at the PHX rental car center that’s yet to be updated with the newest and biggest installation: a three-panel mural by Paul Coze titled “The Phoenix” that is 75 feet wide and 16 feet high.
The mural was installed in PHX Terminal 2 back in the early 1960s. But when Terminal 2 was demolished, the mural was moved here. You can learn more about the artist, the images in the mural, and the heroic effort it took to safely remove the mural from Terminal 2 and reinstall it at the rental car center here and in our article for The Points Guy here.
But we want to take a few moments to talk about – and mourn – the amenities that were once in PHX Terminal 2.
When Terminal 2 opened at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in the 1960s it was one of the most modern airport terminals in the country.
PHX shared a list of the amenities at the new, modern, terminal.
In addition to a long concourse with 10 gates and an indoor (indoor!) baggage carousel, the terminal had a hotel reservation kiosk with individual phones connected directly to each hotel’s reservation desk.
Other amenities included a game room with pinball machines, a rooftop observation deck, shops, a bank, a barbershop, a flower cart, a cocktail lounge, a restaurant with a glass-enclosed terrace, and, up above, The Phoenix mural by Paul Coze.
All those terminal features were certainly swanky for the time. But what really caught our attention was the nursery where passengers and airport visitors could leave their kids while they enjoyed all the amenities in the terminal.
Over the years, many (OK, most) of those amenities were set aside.
And over time the terminal was remodeled in such a way that “The Phoenix” mural was no longer easy to see or fully appreciate.
According to Gary Martelli, Phoenix Airport Museum manager & curator, during the first remodel, in the 1980s, parts of the mural became obscured when the terminal ceiling was lowered, and the columns were rounded. In the 1990s, a new restaurant was built with a vent hood in front of the mural. Then, in the early 2000s, security enhancements created a long wall bisecting the Terminal 2 lobby and further obscuring views of the mural.
Now, in its new home in the southwest corner of the central escalator lobby in the PHX Rental Car Center, “The Phoenix” is easy to see and impossible to miss. Nearby are exhibit cases with information about Terminal 2 and artist Paul Coze, along with photos from the initial installation of the mural. As a nice touch, there are also viewing telescopes (at two heights) to allow visitors to take a closer look at the details and embellishments in the mural.
South Carolina’s Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) celebrated its Dedication Day on November 4, 1962.
Fifty-nine years later, the airport unveiled its History Museum, detailing decades of serving the community.
The 350 square foot History Museum is near the Escape Lounge in GSP’s Grand Hall and is accessible to departing and arriving passengers 24 hours a day.
The museum gives visitors a detailed look at GSP from the founders’ vision in the 1940s through the present day and on to future plans. Exhibits include photos, videos, and first-hand accounts of the airport’s impact on the region. A special section is dedicated to the Flatwood Peaches baseball team that played on fields where the airport is located.
In Florida, Broward County’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is hosting the sixth installment of its employee artwork exhibition titled I Bet You Didn’t Know. This year, the exhibit showcases 46 artworks by 28 FLL employees and is on view through March 17, 2022, in the walkway connecting Terminals 3 and 4.
The work includes paintings, drawings, collages and acrylic pours, by artists whose airport jobs include security personnel, vendor operators, flight attendants, and other professions.
You can see all the works in the FLL exhibition online here.
Next time you’re served a cup of water on Alaska Airlines, you’ll notice it being poured out of a box, not a plastic bottle into a paper, not a plastic cup.
This week Alaska Airlines did a great thing for the environment by swapping out single-use plastic water bottles and plastic cups for Boxed Water Is Better brand cartons and recyclable paper cups in the main cabin on all its flights.
The carrier made the switch in the First Class cabin a while back, so now Alaska is laying claim to the title of the first in the industry to move completely away from plastic for its water service.
That’s a big deal because this will eliminate about 32 million plastic water bottles and 22 million plastics cups per year from Alaska flights. The 1.8 million pounds of single use plastics per year avoided is equivalent to 18 Boeing 737s. You can read more about the program and the Boxed Water is Better Brand company in the story we wrote for The Points Guy.
A few months back, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) joined the list of airports offering mobile food ordering. The OrderSEA program works with the Grab and At Your Gate programs, offering pick-up and gate delivery options from more than 16 airport food outlets.
As a bonus, some travelers who order gate delivery find the At Your Gate delivery person accompanied by a Gita-branded robot like the one at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) named Nom Nom.
Now that it has been on site a while, SEA wants the Gita robot to be part of the permanen team. So they’re asking the public to help choose a name.
Have any ideas?
There’s a new kid’s play space at Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC).
Called Zoom Zone and located in Terminal B between Gates 24 and 25, the 600-square foot space was created with support from Zoom (Zoom Video Communications Inc.) and has an aviation theme.
Features of the Zoom Zone include a Pin Screen, a Bird Climber, a Zoom Plane, and a Kinectic Butterfly. There’s also an Alphabet Airplane that invites kids to open airplane window shades and discover objects representing destinations.
Indianapolis International Airport (IND) is hosting a new photography exhibition titled Indiana, Naturally through December 2021 in both the Ticketing Hall and in cases in Concourses A and B.
The exhibition is part of a larger, ongoing cultural collaboration between the Indianapolis Airport Authority and the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Here are a few of the images. See more here.
Is SFO an airport or a museum?
Now that we’re back to traveling more, we’re delighted to have the opportunity to visit San Francisco International Airport (SFO), home to the SFO Museum, which is fully accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
SFO is both an airport AND a museum. So, we always make sure to choose the longest layover we can when changing planes at SFO. Not just because we love airports, but because we also love museums. And the SFO Museum always has multiple exhibitions scattered throughout the terminals.
One of the newest exhibitions is The Victorian Papered Wall, which is on view in the International Terminal Main Hall.
Why have an exhibition about wallpaper?
From the press release:
From its inception, wallpaper imitated luxurious materials, providing a more affordable alternative to tapestries, fabrics, mural paintings, and architectural elements. Crafted in repeating rolls and pasted to walls, this decorative art has an ephemeral quality unlike any other. Wallpaper reflects the design styles popular at the time, and in the late nineteenth century during the Victorian Era (1837–1901), walls richly came to life. English “design reformers” insisted on abstract, flat patterns, opposing fashionable French three-dimensional designs. Meanwhile, the Aesthetic Movement, which burgeoned in England, emphasized artful interiors in the 1870s and ‘80s. Eclecticism prevailed—designers drew freely from world cultures and centuries past.
This exhibition features art wallpapers created by Bradbury & Bradbury, based in Benicia, CA. The company hand silkscreens hundreds of historic designs using oil-based paints. Their most complex paper, St. James, requires seventeen individually applied colors. In addition to Victorian-era patterns, the company makes wallpaper using patterns from the Art Deco era, the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. We’re hoping to find the wallpaper from our childhood home in there somewhere.
Here are more samples of the wall and ceiling papers you’ll see in six Victorian-era room sets at SFO.
All images courtesy SFO Museum.
Their giant flamingo public artwork won’t arrive until 2022, but the folks at Tampa International Airport (TPA) are clearly very excited. We can’t blame them. This bird looks like it will be a stunner.
There’s a lot of construction going on at Portland International Airport (PDX) and airport officials are being very creative with the signage in the terminal while all the work is going on.
Through October 8, 2021, PDX is inviting the public to create and upload Northwest-inspired PDX doodle-art that might someday be displayed at the airport. Everyone is welcome to vote on their favorite doodles. The designs that get the most votes will be featured on digital monitors at the airport and on PDX social media, and show up on custom t-shirts. The winning artists will get coveted PDX swag and gift cards from PDX shops and restaurants.
Walt Disney World Resort is turning 50 and Orlando International Airport (MCO) is joining in on the celebrations with special decorations in the terminal train stations, banners, decals, and floor projections. Our favorite: a giant 50th Anniversary tea cup and themed backdrop perfect for photo ops.
Are you sick of staying at home? Or maybe still trying to get home after being stuck somewhere due to the pandemic?
Perhaps some art will help.
In a new temporary exhibition at San Diego International Airport (SAN), 16 artists explore the concept of home.
From the exhibit notes:
“Home is a lens through which people explore memory, identity, and belonging in an increasingly nomadic world. More recently, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, home became a safe haven–an all-in-one workplace, classroom, and living space for millions of people around the globe. The term also took on significance as a desired destination that was not possible to reach for some, whether due to travel restrictions or health limitations.“
Make Yourself at Home, located pre and post-security in Terminal 2 at SAN through May 2022, includes sculpture, painting, photography, video, woven textiles, ceramics, site-specific installation, and more.
[The] “exhibition takes on new and imaginative ways to view the concept of home,” says Kimberly Becker, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority President and CEO. “We hope passengers traveling through San Diego take a moment to embrace the art and find new meaning in what home means to them.”
Here are few more selections from the exhibition.
