Airport art

Fresh art at SFO and PDX airports

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If you’re traveling through San Fransisco International Airport or Portland International Airport anytime soon, keep an eye out for new art.

Courtesy Sticky Co.

At Portland International Airport’s Concourse D, look up to see Portaurora, a new permanent art piece by Sticky Co., a Portland- and Amsterdam-based artist team.

This is an interactive installation: as travelers pass underneath they’ll see colors and hear sounds inspired by the Northern Lights.

“Although this is mostly a technology-driven project, we added a simple element – applying glitter to the ceiling – to enhance the aurora effect,” says Andrew Haddock, who leads the Sticky Co. team. “We wanted passengers to experience a bit of a surprise as they pass through the space.”

At SFO Airport, the SFO Museum’s newest exhibition is all about artisan-made surfboards.

Longyboard – Dudley “Hap” Jacobs. Courtesy SFO Museum.
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This exhibition features twenty-seven wooden surfboards made by surfboard artists – or “shapers” – that show the progression of surfboard design. Included are boards made from rare woods that represent surfing’s ancient history, boards that represent designs popular in the early 1960s and surfboard shapes best for paddling into large waves.

The SFO Museum’s new exhibition: “Reflections in Wood: Surfboards & Shapers” will be on display in the pre-security area of the International Terminal at SFO International Airport through August 4, 2019.


Hot Curl – by Donald Takayama. Courtesy SFO Museum

Mural Monday: terrazzo murals at Orlando International Airport

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Next time you’re passing through Orlando International Airport, be sure to look at the floors in the north terminal.

Not just so you don’t trip, but so you don’t miss the permanent art installation made up of four large-scale terrazzo murals by international award-winning artist Scott Parsons.

Courtesy MCO Airport

The quartet of murals each measure around 28 feet by 32 feet and act as “welcome mats” or “gardens.”

The themes are wellness, fun, technology and space and included are images such as a roller coaster, a space shuttle and orange blossoms set amidst swirling splashes of color.

Courtesy Scott Parsons

“These designs are meant to be calming and joyful to the visitor,” Parsons says on his website, “The colors are rich and full of depth, subdued and complementary, forms flow one into the next, suggesting a journey with connections across the central Florida landscape. Each floor radiates from their center and enjoins numerous elements which repeat across all four floors to create a comprehensive and unified set of designs.”

Take a look at some of the mural details.

Orlando International Airport has lots more great art to keep an eye out for in the terminals including more terrazzo floor murals and, a favorite of mine, this work by Duane Hanson called “The Traveler” in Terminal A.

Orlando International Airport also has this treasure: a work by Jacob Lawrence, titled Space, Time, Energy, in Terminal B.

 

Fresh art and music at SFO, STL and SEA airports

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Increasingly, airports are great places to see cool art and listen to great music.

Here are the latest offerings from San Francisco International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Murmur No. 23 2006 Richard Barnes (b. 1953)

Murmur No. 23, by Richard Barnes. Courtey SFO Museum

The SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport is hosting an exhibition of photographs by Richard Barnes of starlings over Rome.

Barnes photographs the starlings during their winter migration from northern Europe to the Rome countryside. He waits till dusk, when the birds form dense cloud-like formations known as murmurations, and in his “Murmur” series Barnes has captured the starlings forming impressive aerial shapes.

Look for the Murmur exhibit pre-security on the Departures Level in Terminal 3 of the San Francisco International Airport.

 

Murmur No. 21 , by Richard Barnes. Courtesy SFO Museum

 

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has kicked off a new program, Celebrations at Sea-Tac, to honor holidays, traditions and cultures from the United Stations and global community.

The celebrations begin November with 1 for Dia de los Muertos, or the “Day of the Dead,” a Mexican holiday honoring and remembering loved ones.

Activities will include art installations, candy skull face painting and arts and crafts for children, food and beverage sampling and live performances.

And at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, the Art & Culture Program is hosting an exhibition by St. Louis artist Jeremy Rabus.

Titled “Livery,” the exhibition includes paintings inspired by the livery and components of commercial airlines. Look for this exhibit near the A Concourse entrance in Terminal 1.

Loran Naviagation by Jeremy Rabus; courtesy STL Airport

Fresh art at Philadelphia Int’l Airport

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To mark the 20th anniversary of its locally-curated art program, Philadelphia International Airport asked 20 local artists to transform one previously art-free area of the airport into a colorful installation.

PHL_Jay Walker, taped walkway glass; Miriam Singer ceiling tiles.jpg

Courtesy PHL: Jay Walker, taped walkway glass; Miriam Singer ceiling tiles

The artists used used yarn, fabric, felt, found objects, tape, paint and vinyl and applied their work to the  ceiling tiles, columns, rocking chairs, walls, walkway and windows. Now this part of Terminal A-East is an immersive and experiential art-filled passageway.

“The artists responded to the existing architectural elements  – even the furnishings and planters – to create an unexpected visual experience and an engaging space for people to pass through,” said Leah Douglas, PHL’s director of exhibtions. “It is a form of urban interventionism where art activates the built environment with the intention to see a public space in a new and creative way.”

“It’s a Wrap: 20 for 20” will remain on site through February 2019.

Find out more about the wide array of art exhibits at PHL Airport  online and take a look a some of the other art pieces created just for this art installation below.

Courtesy_PHL Airport. Artist: Kay Healy


Courtesy_PHL Airport. Artist: Kay Healy

 

Courtesy PHL. Rocker by Angela McQuillan

Courtesy PHL. Rocker by Angela McQuillan

 

Courtesy PHL Airport. Artwork by Eurhi Jones

Courtesy PHL Airport. Artwork by Eurhi Jones

Fresh art at Australia’s Sydney Airport

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Fresh art at Australia’s Sydney Airport

United Neytions by Archie Moore

United Neytions by Archie Moore at Sydney Airport

A hard-to-miss work of art made up of 28 large flags now hangs from the ceiling in the international terminal at Australia’s Sydney Airport.

United Neytions is by noted contemporary artist Archie Moore and highlights the diversity of Aboriginal histories and cultures in Australia.

Archie Moore's United Neytions

Archie Moore’s  United Neytions. Photo Anna Kucera at Sydney Airport

Moore said the artwork celebrates issues of place and identity and that installing it at the airport allows the flags to adopt a scale and status more often given to international flags.

Having the flags at the airport draws attention not only to the “histories, voices and presence of local indigenous people on whose traditional lands the airport lies,” said Moore but also to “the passages of cultures, pasts, territories, ages and cultural knowledges that airports foster.”

Sydney Airport has a partnership with Australia’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which chose to bring this work to the international terminal.

Here’s a short video from an earlier installation of the work in which artist Archie Moore describes the piece in more detail, including what each flag represents and why he chose the spelling of “Neytion” for the title.

Heading to or through Sydney Airport? Let us know what the piece looks like in its new home.