Art in airports

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

New artwork to greet passengers at Salt Lake City Int’l Airport

Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) already has several large-scale artworks by artist Gordon Huether, including the 400-foot Canyon (above).

Coming soon: the completion of his 90-foot outdoor art piece echoing the mountain peaks for which Utah is famous.

SFO Airport is celebrating Dia de Los Muertos

San Fransisco International Airport (SFO) is celebrating Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) with an altar, a mural, and live cultural performances through November 7 in Harvey Milk Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

In Harvey Milk Terminal 1, look for the “Tree of Life” altar created in partnership with the Mission Center for Cultural Arts, and feel free to add the names of your loved ones to the altar.

In Terminal 2, artist Adrian Arias will paint a mural titled “Ancestral Hummingbird with Moon,” influenced by his Peruvian background.

Pittsburgh International Airport’s new terminal progressing nicely

Aliens at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport?

A new exhibition from the Phoenix Airport Museum at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) is inspired by a potato-shaped, metal-rich asteroid named Psyche that sits between Mars and Jupiter.

On October 12, 2023, NASA plans to launch a spacecraft of the same name on a mission to Psyche.

The Psyche spacecraft should arrive at the Psyche asteroid sometime in 2029 and then orbit it for at least 26 months.

Courtesy NASA

Through early 2024, the Phoenix Airport Museum is presenting an exhibition inspired by the Psyche mission.

Psyche: Mission to a Metal World, presents a diverse range of artwork by students involved in Arizona State University’s Psyche-Inspired internship program.

Each year, the program accepts 16 undergraduate students from any university in the U.S. And through creative works, the students interpret the mission’s data, predict outcomes, and even develop science-fiction-based scenarios.

This new exhibit includes paintings, sculptures, animations, and more from the Psyche Inspired program.

Highlights include an animated, stop-motion “interview” with the Psyche satellite, a 6-foot-tall personified “asteroid robot” and vivid illustrations anticipating the asteroid’s surface. Visitors can also learn fun facts about Psyche and the NASA mission to visit it.

Look for this out-of-this-world exhibition, on display at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in Terminal 3, level 2 near the security checkpoint through early 2024.

Exhibit images courtesy Phoenix Airport Museum

Stuck at the Airport: Art at Albany Int’l Airport

(Artist: Sharon Bates)

Art – and a smartly curated art program – can turn a long wait at an airport into a rewarding cultural adventure.

And the team at New York’s Albany International Airport (ALB) caught onto that fact early on.

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.

Travel tidbits from here and there

File under: Hotels we hope to visit

A bourbon-themed hotel? Yes.

File under: How we wish we could fly

We’re looking at the moon

Heading to Las Vegas? Visit this airport museum

Learn the real story behind Denver Airport’s Mustang

“A Necessary Departure” at San Diego Int’l Airport

(“Blue Corona: Sunset Dances”/Artist: Lori Hepner/Location:Terminal 2 West, Post-Security, Stone Brewery Wall)

San Diego International Airport (SAN) is featuring a new temporary exhibition, titled A Necessary Departure, throughout Terminal 2 pre-and-post security.

A Necessary Departure is a collection of works from 17 local artists and organizations that examines personal transformations and how the community has remade itself after the pandemic.

Featured work in the exhibition includes sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, site-specific installation, and more. All exhibition pieces will remain on display through 2023.

Here is a sample of artwork from the show.

[“Oneness.” Artist: San Diego MTO School/Kerry Soori McEachern. Location: Terminal 2 East, Pre-Security, Gallery]

(“The Wonders of Plastic”/ Artist: Terri Hughes-Oelrich/Location: Terminal 2 East 2nd floor, Post-Security, gate 24)

(“Farverig Sol”/ Artist: Kaori Fukuyama/Location: Terminal 2 East, Pre-Security, Checkpoint six)

All photos courtesy of San Diego International Airport