art at airports

Art + Flight at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

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(Handpainted Mural by Joe Nix)

Seattle’s Museum of Flight is already well-known as the largest nonprofit air & space museum.

Now the sprawling aviation museum is making a bid for being well-known for commissioning and exhibiting art.

The Museum of Flight’s Art+Flight project, running through January 7, 2024, includes dozens of artworks in all mediums by over 30 artists.

Included are three newly commissioned murals and an installation drawn from the Museum’s own art collection.

Here are just a few pieces included in the show.

Aura (below), by RYAN! Feddersen depicts the scale of human-made space junk that orbits Earth.

Viewers are invited to try and spot 8 of the estimated 27,000-35,000 pieces of space junk currently being tracked. The list includes a camera, a glove, a pair of pliers, a spatula, a thermal blanket, a tool bag, a toothbrush, and a wrench.

Jeffrey Veregge mixes Native American traditions with contemporary techniques in his “Salish Geek” style. He has two pieces in the Juried Group Show: We Chose (Apollo Program), and Re-Entry (Space Shuttle Program).

These pieces, Valenci Four and Thorania, are by glass sculptor Rik Allen.

And Jhun Carpio’s Artemis SLS Rocket is made with wooden stirrers and toothpicks.

In addition to the works on display, the Museum of Flight’s Art + Flight project is hosting an artist-in-residence, and presenting arts programs, artist lectures, an interactive mural project, and plenty of other activities through January 7, 2024.

The Stuck at the Airport arts teams is heading to the exhibit this weekend, so stay tuned for more images from the show.

*All photos courtesy Museum of Flight

Light Paintings at John Wayne Airport (SNA)

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(Time Traveler, by Christopher Allwine)

It’s been a while since Stuck at the Airport featured an art exhibit from the John Wayne Airport Arts Program. But we’re delighted to get them back in the cycle with this post highlighting the current exhibit featuring photography by Christopher Allwine.

Allwine specializes in the technique of light painting. And he achieves neon-like effects through the use of long exposure times and handheld light tools.

“Utilizing theatrical and cinematic techniques, he manages composition, creates mood, and leads the viewer’s eye,” the exhibition notes tell us. “These images are not Photoshop creations, they are unique designs blending physical props with photographic innovation.”

(Ride the Snake Highway – Christopher Allwine)

The exhibit is on view pre-security at the John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Santa Clara, CA on the upper Departure Level near security in Terminals A, B, and C and on the lower Arrivals Level by Baggage Carousels 2 and 4 through June 14, 2023.

Here are some more images from the exhibit.

Fresh Art at PIE Airport

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Two new murals now greet passengers at Florida’s St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE).

Both murals are visible to passengers arriving and departing from Gates 7-11 and Gate 12.

Leo Gomez’s mural “GO EASY” features a dreamy Tampa Bay sunset, with welcoming colors, bold text, and silhouettes that evoke travel and nature. 

Laura “Miss Crit” Spencer’s mural is inspired by Florida native flowers and is inhabited by a variety of bees, butterflies, and pollinators.

These new murals join the other amenities we love at PIE airport, including a great art collection, the PIE Pups animal therapy program, and the outdoor Bark Parks animal relief areas.

PIE Airport is also a great place to learn some aviation history.

PIE airport’s location on Tampa Bay, north of St. Petersburg lays claim to being the birthplace of commercial air transportation. 

On January 1, 1914, barely a decade after the Wright Brothers’ pioneer flight at Kitty Hawk, the first ticket for air travel was sold by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airport line to a fare-paying passenger. 

St. Petersburg mayor A.C. Phiel (center in the photo below) paid $400 to be the first passenger on the St. Petersburg Tampa Bay Airport Line. That flight marked the beginning of commercial air transportation. 

Courtesy Courtesy National Air and Space Museum Archives

A replica of the Benoist amphibious airplane flown on that inaugural flight is on display in the PIE baggage claim.

Except where noted, all photos are courtesy PIE Airport.

Spring has sprung – in art – at PHX Airport

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The newest exhibition at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) offers an artistic look at the wide variety of plant and animal life in Arizona and the Sonoran Desert with work by 21 artists.

The diverse selection of artworks, all from the Phoenix Airport Museum’s own collection, includes a realistic bronze tortoise family, an embroidered and appliqued art chair with butterflies and flowers, and large vibrant paintings of cactus blooms – to name a few.

Persistent Plants and Desert Dwellers is in Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Terminal 3, on level 4, and is an inviting and colorful respite, especially for travelers from colder climates who will appreciate the sunshiny images.

Travelers can visit the exhibition in the post-security gallery while airport visitors without a flight ticket can see a sampling of works near the PHX Sky Train® portal through August 2022.

Something Fishy Spotted at Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport

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Sometimes the coolest stuff is below you

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.