Airport art

At airports: a giant flamingo, doodles, & Disney salute

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Some birds are welcome at airports

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.

PDX offering prizes for doodles

Sasquatch and Chill By Vanessa Soberanis

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.

Orlando Int’l Airport celebrates a Disney anniversary

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.

Fresh Art at San Diego Int’l Airport

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Artist: Beliz Iristay

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.“

Artist: Cheryl Tall

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.

Artist: Judith Christensen
Artist: Jane Brucker
Artist: Nasem Navad

Art and Magic at SJC and DAL Airports

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Artists: Humans Since 1982 Photographer: John Janca

Fresh art at Mineta San Jose International Airport

Take a look at this cool new permanent artwork installed at California’s Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)

Installed in the pre-security Arrivals Hall of Terminal B, A million Times (San José), by artists Humans since 1982, is made from 160 clock faces with white hands set against a black surface. The clock hands have been programmed to spin individually so the artwork sometimes shows the accurate time between performances of three different compositions.

Take a look.

Travelers who have had the chance to go through Terminal 2 at Singapore’s Changi Airport in the past will recognize this version of A million Times, which is made up of 504 clock-faces.

MAGIC SHOW AT DALLAS LOVE FIELD

Who says all the magic has gone out of travel?

On Tuesday (September 21, 2021) Dallas Love Field (DAL) hosted a live magic show for travelers and airport employees.

The 45-minute show by magicians Dal and Cinde Sanders included magic and illusion including, card magic, mind-reading, floating tables, and giant balloon dogs. We’re nominating this for Airport Amenity of the Week.

What do you think?

Gate passes; jet travel; and art fans

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Sharing some of the stories we’ve written recently for our friends over at The Points Guy site:

Airport gate pass programs are back

Before the pandemic, a handful of airports around the country offered gate pass programs that allowed non-ticketed visitors to join ticketed passengers on the security checkpoint lines and on the secure side of the terminals. Most of those programs were put on hold during the pandemic. But now they’re back. Find out more in our story here.

Reality Check: Private Jet Travel

Fly commercial first class is very swanky. Private jet travel is even more exclusive, but far more expensive at $5,000 to $6,000 per hour. You’ll need to do your homework before you book a trip. Especially now that many of the issues and problems facing commercial aviation – and the rest of the economy – are having an impact on private aviation as well. Here’s our story on private jet travel right now.

Art Fans On Display at PHL Airport

Philadelphia International Airport’s (PHL) newest art exhibition, “Fans of Homage,” features church-style-inspired fans made by Ife Nii Owoo. The fans, which have thick wooden handles and exquisitely decorated blades, are designed to heighten awareness of issues faced by Black Americans and are also a call for justice.

See our story on the Art Fans exhibit at PHL here.

Fresh art at LAX, RNO, and SFO Airports

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Here at Stuck at the Airport, we’re big fans of the art and history exhibits passengers can enjoy while waiting for their planes. And we’re delighted to see that – pandemic or not – airport art programs are marching forward.

At Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) there’s a new LA Scenes group exhibition in Terminal 1.

And, in conjunction with the National Arts Program, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority is hosting the 13th annual Employee Art Show.

The colorful exhibition showcases 132 pieces by 88 airport artists drawn from tenants and vendors, staff, family, and
retirees of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority.

This show began in 2007 and includes works ranging from paintings, works on paper, photography, mixed media, sculptures, and crafts.

Look for this show in RNO’s depARTures Galler, located post-security in the C concourse through August 4, 2021

Airports, airplanes & Alexander Calder

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Courtesy Calder Foundation

July 22 was artist Alexander Calder’s birthday, giving us an excuse to share some photos of his work in airports and on airplanes.

The photo above is of Calder in 1957 inspecting the installation of his work originally titled .125, after the gauge of the aluminum elements in Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (then Idlewild Airport). The piece was later redubbed Flight.

Courtesy Library of Congress

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) also has a work by Alexander Calder in its collection. This piece is titled, appropriately enough, Pittsburgh.

Courtesy Pittsburgh International Airport

Calder’s work also appeared on Braniff International Airways airplanes in the mid-1970s.

The first was a Douglas DC-8 known as Flying Colors of South America. The second was a Boeing 727-200 named Flying Colors of the United States.

Courtesy of the Calder Foundation

https://twitter.com/SFOMuseum/status/1418356832234393600?s=20

To learn more about the airplanes Calder painted for Braniff, see this article from 2020 by Chris Sloan in Airways Magazine.

Fresh art at Miami Int’l Airport

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Brian Reedy, UFO over Bombay, 2020

UFOs have been in the news lately. So we are pleased to see a piece of art featuring a UFO included in a new exhibition at Miami International Airport.

Key West and Other Unusual Places includes printed works by Miami-based visual artists and printmakers Brian Reedy and Tom Virgin.

Reedy has a fascination with the supernatural and Asian architecture. So the work above, UFO over Bombay, makes sense.

Tom Virgin’s work reflects his travels across the United States.

Tom Virgin, Big Shark (from Escape Series), 

The exhibit will be on display in the The Eye Has to Travel Gallery near Gate D29 until October, 2021.

Airports mark National Selfie Day, Pride Month, and a magical painting

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Sharing some of the Tweets airports shared on Monday about National Selfie Day, about short films to watch to celebrate Pride Month, and about the return of a magical painting.

SEA Airport reveals next phase of revamped North Satellite

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Courtesy Port of Seattle

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s 1970s-era North Satellite is undergoing a much needed, multi-year makeover to create a state-of-the-art facility to serve Alaska Airlines flights.

Phase One of the project brought us a swanky new Alaska Airlines lounge, restaurants and shops, and bright new gate areas.

Phase Two includes the two gates that opened today in advance of 10 more gates that will open at the end of June. This upgraded space has a mezzanine area and a central atrium that will offer a live performance stage, lots of seating, and great views out to the airfield thanks to a giant wall of windows. And new dining and retail options will include PF Chang’s, Beecher’s, SEA Roast Coffee House, and a branch of Seattle-based outdoor store Filson.

This is our home base airport, so we were excited to mask up and take a tour.

First: Cookies. All Airport Events Must Have Cookies.

New Construction Means New Art

This North Satellite project add 10 new pieces of art to the airport’s impressive collection. Some of the new works are tucked into the existing Nursing Suites. Others are already installed and are hard to miss.

Passengers riding up the escalator from the train level at SEA’s North Satellite are now met with an impressive sculpture titled “Boundary.” Seattle-based artist John Grade created this life-sized portrayal of the expanding root structure of an old-growth Western Red Cedar.

The work is 40 feet high, extends 25 feet out from the wall, and stretches 85 feet across – a distance, the airport notes, is equal to the wingspan of a Boeing 737.

Blackleaf, by Montana artist Deborah Butterfield is cast in bronze from pieces of driftwood.

Courtesy Port of Seattle

Bathrooms that use rainwater to flush toilets

We are disappointed that the newest restrooms in the North Satellite don’t have that much-appreciated red light/green light feature found in some SEA lavs that let you know which stalls are empty.

But we are pleased these restrooms make use of rainwater collected off the roof to flush the toilets. That will help save 2.8 million gallons of potable water annually – the equivalent of 4.5 Olympic swimming pools.

Airports celebrate World Art Day

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We’re big fans of art at airports.

So we were pleased to see airports around the country celebrating World Art Day by showing off the great art in the terminals.

Here’s a sampling. Let us know if we missed your World Art Day tweet and we will be happy to add it.