The airport created an Art & Culture Program back in 1998 when only a handful of other airports were presenting artwork.
And now, 25 years later, travelers at Albany International Airport can rely on being able to spend time in the airport enjoying permanent art installations, great temporary exhibitions, and exhibit cases showcasing treasures from area museums and cultural organizations.
(Adirondack Folk School exhibit cases at ALB)
The Stuck at the Airport art review team is looking forward to seeing the current exhibition in ALB’s Concourse A, titled Souvenir, in part because it features work by Sharon Bates, the founding director of Albany International Airport’s Art & Culture Program.
The Souvenir exhibit features artwork submitted to the participatory magazine, Cut Me Up, and Bates’ contribution was a series of miniature versions of some of her most memorable installations at ALB.
We hope she has made some extras, so we can take home some souvenirs.
New York’s Albany International Airport (ALB) is getting ready to debut a new exhibition.
The sculptures and prints in the Lumen exhibition are by Shaina Gates, Heather Hutchison, and Ben Godward. And all the works in the exhibition are engaged with or activated by light.
“Visitors will experience shifts in the dimension and character of the artwork as sunlight and weather change over the course of a day or a season,” said Kathy Greenwood, Director of the Airport’s Art & Culture Program. “Each artist harnesses light and color through complex and somewhat mysterious processes.”
Assemblies of small, gem-like sculptures by Shaina Gates are made from expired black and white photographic sheet film.
The range of hues results from sun exposure and a host of chemical and chance conditions.
Ben Godward’s hand-pigmented resin sculptures are composed of translucent layers of brilliant color.
In the presence of light, these sculpture project radiant effects on the surfaces around them.
And Heather Hutchison’s minimal forms contain meticulously constructed optical shifts that are produced with layers of transparent and opaque materials conditions.
Lumen will be on display in the Albany International Airport Gallery, located pre-security on the third floor of the terminal, from September 24, 2022, through February 27, 2023. Hours: 7 am – 10 pm daily.
Barnes spent a year photographing and collecting specimens from over 150 plants growing in the Sharker Heritage Society’s herb garden, which is on the site of the first Shaker settlement in the United States.
The herb garden, and historic Shaker ‘gift’ or ‘spirit’ drawings, are the inspiration for the images and prints Barnes created during her year-long project going on view at Albany International Airport on July 16. There’s also a companion site-specific installation at the Shaker Heritage Society, which is a short walk from the airport.
At the Shaker Heritage Society’s 1856 Drying House, Barnes’ installation includes temporary murals on the exterior of the historic brick building. The images are stark blue and white silhouettes of herbs in bloom climbing the outside of the red brick walls. Inside, there are prints on fabric and hanging bunches of herbs from the garden. The murals and the installation will remain on view through summer 2023.
For the installation at Albany International Airport, Barnes made eight cyanotype paintings on paper with plants collected from the Shaker herb garden. (Cyanotype is an old photographic printing process that creates dark greenish-blue prints.)
These paintings are reproduced on aluminum panels that will be on view for three to five years in the pedestrian corridor linking the new south parking garage with the ticketing area.
On July 16, ALB Airport will also debut a six-month-long exhibition, called Planting Utopia, in the post-security Concourse A Gallery with artwork, preparatory sketches, and a documentary video about the collaboration.
(All images courtesy Albany International Airport)
SFO Museum presents an exhibit about art from pineapple leaves
At SFO: From Pineapple to Piña: A Philippine Textile Treasure
The newest exhibit from the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is about textiles made from pineapple leaves.
“Unique to the Philippines, piña is an extraordinary textile made by weaving the fibers of the leaves of the pineapple plant. This light, airy fabric was perfectly suitable to the tropical climate. The textile enjoyed a golden age during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly on the island of Panay, where it was made into shirts, women’s blouses, shoulder scarfs, handkerchiefs, and table linens.“
A new exhibition at Albany International Airport (ALB)
Albany International Airport (ALB) will open a new Gallery exhibition on May 7. The Life Around Us, features recent paintings by Ashley Norwood Cooper and Heidi Johnson, as well as a new site-specific installation, Stream by Laura Moriarty.
Route pins from PHL Airport
And Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) recently handed out pins created by local artists to celebrate the return of several transatlantic flights. Great idea!
Sunrise Sunset features work by 46 artists and runs from May 15-August 30, 2021. The show is in the airport’s new redeveloped pre-security Gallery and in the post-security Concourse A Gallery.
Sunrises and sunsets have long been rendered and allegorized to signify beginnings and endings, the show notes tell us. “Yet, at a glance, how are we to tell whether we’re welcoming a new day or the approach of the night?”
“Much the same can be said about our recent experience of time passage when for many it could be hard to distinguish one day from the next or discern what the future might hold,” said Kathy Greenwood, Director, Art & Culture Program Albany International Airport.
For this exhibit, Greenwood chose work in a wide range of media, including video and still photography, as well as sculpture, installation, painting, fiber, and collage by artists who are emerging as well as those who occupy an international stage.