Museum of Flight

Transforming a weapon of war into a colorful work of art

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(Courtesy of the MiG-21 Project)

Seattle’s Museum of Flight is taking a bold and very colorful step in the world of art and aviation.

Starting June 21, the museum is displaying The MiG-21 Project. The installation is the culmination of South African artist Ralph Ziman’s multi-year collaborative effort to cover a decommissioned Cold War-era, Soviet-designed MiG-21 fighter jet with tens of millions of colorful glass beads.

The exhibit will be onsite until January 26, 2026.

Why do it? Ziman says his goal was to “to take the most mass-produced supersonic fighter aircraft and turn it from a machine of war into something that looks beautiful” and changes its meaning.

Ziman and a fabrication team of craftspeople and artists from Zimbambwe, South Africa and Los Angeles did just that. Working across time zones and through a variety of challenges, including the pandemic, they covered the aircraft’s 51-foot by 24-foot surface with beaded panels in colors and patterns that are meant to convey peace, cultural pride, and a joyous celebration of life.

The inside of the cockpit got the full beaded treatment as well. Here’s a link to a cool 360 cockpit view.

(courtesy MiG-21 Project)

In addition to covering the MiG-21 with beads, Ralph Ziman and his fabrication team created regalia inspired by the beaded panels of the aircraft and incorporating bits and pieces of the aircraft.

These Afrofuturistic flight suits draw influence from military flight suits, African tribal textiles and space travel.

(Courtesy MiG 21 project)

As impressive as the MiG-21 exhibit is, consider that the MiG-21 is the final piece artwork in Ralph Ziman’s 12-year Weapons of Mass Production Trilogy, which addresses the impact of the arms trade on global conflicts and the continued militarization of police forces around the world.

(Image courtesy Nic Hofmeyr)

Here’s a short video that explains the larger MiG-21 Project.

Museum Monday: Posters for Boeing’s canceled supersonic transport (SST) aircraft

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They are easy to miss as you cross the pedestrian bridge connecting the main campus of Seattle’s sprawling Museum of Flight to the museum’s Space Gallery and Aviation Pavilion across the street.

But as part of the delightful Art+Flight exhibit currently underway at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, there is a display of charming motivational posters created for the Boeing Model 2707, a supersonic transport (SST) aircraft developed in the 1960s to compete with the British and French Concorde.

Boeing had a government contract to develop and build the supersonic airliner, but the contract was canceled in 1971 before the prototypes were even completed.

These posters are from the archives of the Museum of Flight, which says all it really knows about them is that they were made as motivational posters for employees working on the 2707 SST program during the 1960s. The colors and imagery clearly take influences from the pop art of the time. And the messages and slogans are all about making the plane as light as can be.


Images are courtesy of Seattle Museum of Flight’s Holden Withington Boeing SST Poster Collection and the Clarence S Howell Collection of Boeing SST Posters

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

Airport Valentines + Miniature Airplanes + More

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Valentine’s Day is around the corner and airports and airlines are getting to land some love.

In Las Vegas, the pop-up marriage license bureau is back at the Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to help streamline the uptick in weddings that take place in Sin City around Valentine’s Day.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) will once again be handing out hundreds of red, pink, and white carnations to passengers on Valentine’s Day. Look for the PHL Volunteer Navigator team starting at 10 am in Terminal AEast and F.

At PHL, Philadelphia artist Carole Loeffler will also be onsite Valentine’s Day handing out hundreds of her hand-cut red felt hearts bearing rolled messages of love. Her HeartFelt giveaways will occur from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, across from the food court located between Terminals B and C.

Big Flying Things Made Very Small in Seattle

Seattle’s Museum of Flight will be hosting one of the world’s largest displays of model planes, cars, tanks, ships, figures, sci-fi, and more during the 2023 NorthWest Scale Modelers Show on Feb. 18-19. Special exhibits include models celebrating Black History Month and the animated world of Gundam.

The event is all weekend and is free with admission to the Museum.

Plenty of Super Bowl Swag at Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport

And if you’re headed to the Big Game in person, it looks like you’ll have no problem finding swag to show your support for your favorite team.

An Orchestra Will Take Over This Aviation Museum

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University of Stuttgart Academic Orchestra.

 We’re not sure how this will work. Or why it is happening. But we’re sure it will be great.

On September 21, from 3 pm to 5 pm, the University of Stuttgart Academic Orchestra will take over all five main galleries at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

The plan is for the Orchestra to divide into five separate chamber groups and station themselves in the aviation and space galleries on both the Museum’s East and West Campuses.

Each group plans to play selections by composers including Mendelssohn and Weber to celebrate aviation, space, history, and science.

Here’s the program:

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826): Quintet for clarinet and strings in B-flat major, Op. 34.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1947): String octet in E-flat major, Op. 20.
Joachim Raff (1822-1882): Sinfonietta for winds in F major, Op. 188.
Plus arrangements for brass ensemble.

The Museum performances are part of a North American tour by the Stuttgart, Germany-based orchestra, and are free with admission to the Museum of Flight.

Museum of Flight No Stranger to Music

Seattle Opera Dress Rehearsal at Museum of Flight

This isn’t the first time a music production has taken over the Museum of Flight.

During the pandemic, the Seattle Opera was scheduled to present a performance of “Flight.” The three-act opera was written in 1998 by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist April De Angelis and has been performed around the world.

Here’s the story of the opera:

“An omniscient air traffic controller watches over a departure lounge bustling with relentlessly cheerful flight attendants, an excitable couple on vacation, a mysterious older woman, and a diplomat and his expectant wife, all of whom must spend the night to wait out a storm. At the heart of the show is the Refugee, a character inspired by Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris for almost 18 years.”

The pandemic meant that Seattle Opera could not perform the show live. But rather than pass on the opportunity to present it, the Seattle Opera teamed up with Seattle’s Museum of Flight and filmed the opera there.

For National Book Lovers Day: our new book

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Amelia Earhart Reading,” International Women’s Air & Space Museum,

August 9 was National Book Lovers Day and we celebrated by visiting some of the places in Seattle that are featured in our new book, 111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss, which begins shipping today.

The book is part of the international 111 Places series, which offers locals and experienced travelers guides to hidden treasures, overlooked gems, and charming curious places in great cities.

For the Seattle guide, I’m pointing readers to many airport and aviation-related items around town, including the art collections at both Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and King County International Airport – Boeing Field (BFI).

Richard Elliot’s ‘Eyes on the World’ at SEA
Brad Miller’s “30,000 Feet” Photo by Joe Freemans Courtesy 4Culture

The Museum of Flight is represented in the book, with the story of the Taylor Aerocar, an early flying car that worked.

Taylor Aerocar III, one wing folded back for ground travel, one wing attached for flight.

And we also point people to the tiny pocket park on the shores of Lake Union where they’ll find a plaque marking the spot where the first Boeing plane took off.

The plaque reads “From this site, Boeing launched it first airplane, the B&W, in 1916.”

Of course, there are plenty of other non-aviation sites in the book, including the Giant Shoe Museum, the world’s greenest commercial building, a haunted staircase, the Rubber Chicken Museum, a shop where you can buy personalized magic wands, the place where you can rent a rowboat for free, and lots more.

We hope you’ll get a copy of 111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss from your favorite bookseller.

Get you free museum tickets

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Between shutdowns, staff layoffs, and budget cuts, the pandemic has been tough on museums and cultural attractions across the United States.

But that won’t stop more than 1000 museums, zoos, and cultural centers from opening their doors for free on Saturday, September 18 as part of Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day 2021.

Each participating museum will offer free admission to guests who present a museum day ticket downloaded from the Museum Day site. Visitors may request one ticket per email and each ticket provides general admission to the ticket holder and one guest.

In addition to offering savings on admission fees, which can be quite hefty, Museum Day gives guests a chance to revisit a favorite museum or explore a new one.

The event, which was canceled last year due to COVID-19, celebrates the reopening of museums and the return of arts and cultural experiences with this year’s theme of Experience America.

You can search by city, zip code, or state for a museum near you. Here are a few examples of museums you might want to visit with your free Museum Day ticket – or any day.

Flight Path Museum & Learning Center at LAX

The Flight Path Museum and Learning Center is a great aviation and aerospace museum at Los Angeles International Airport.

LAX Flight Path Museum airplane models

Gold Coast Railroad Museum: Miami, FL

The museum houses more than 40 historic rail cars including the Presidential Rail Car ‘Ferdinand Magellan,’ and Florida East Coast Steam Locomotive #153. 

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, NY

The legendary aircraft carrier Intrepid is a National Historic Landmark. See 28 aircraft, the space shuttle Enterprise, and enter Growler, the only guided missile submarine open to the public.

Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA

The Museum of Flight is the world’s largest independent air and space museum. It displays over 160 airplanes and spacecraft on a 23-acre campus. The museum’s six buildings include the original Boeing Aircraft factory.

Museum Monday: Aerospace Medicine at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

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Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day returns on September 18, 2021 and on that day more than 1000 museums, science centers, and gardens around the country will be offering free admission to anyone who shows up with a downloaded Museum Day ticket.

Seattle’s Museum of Flight (where regular admission is usually $25) is on the list this year and we’ve already downloaded our ticket so we can go see the museum’s newest exhibit called Stranger Than Fiction – the Incredible Science of Aerospace Medicine.

The exhibit includes dozen of artifacts, including medical kits, airsickness bags, flight suits, and spacesuits. and tells the story of aviation and space adventurers, doctors, and researchers who make it possible for people to fly through the air and off into space.

Below are some of the retro comic book-style images the Museum of Flight is using to help make the exhibit accessible to all. And here is the official Stranger Than Fiction soundtrack, created by artist Leeni Ramadan.

(All photos courtesy Museum of Flight)

Museums are opening across the country

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Are you ready to visit a museum? If so, it’s a good bet you’ll find a museum near you that’s open, or getting to ready to open its doors to the (masked ) public again soon.

Here are some of the museums we’ve got on our list.

Seattle’s Museum of Flight

It was cute when animals from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo got to visit the Museum of Flight. But we were still jealous. Now we’re happy people can visit the museum too.

https://youtu.be/5X3vYQlqNJ8

Can’t make it? Don’t worry. The museum’s collection can be viewed online. In the artifact section, we found this talking GI Joe Astronaut from 1970.
“When his dog tag is pulled, GI Joe narrates his way through a lunar mission, from liftoff to Moon landing to splashdown.”

Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum 

The Mütter Museum is a medical museum with far-ranging collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments. Einstein’s brain is here. And so is a specimen from John Wilkes Booth’s vertebra.

We’ve spent a lot of time with Memento Mütter, the museum’s online exhibit of more than 60 items from the Museum’s collection, about half of which are not on public display.  If you check it out, be warned that the paper mache eyeball is one of the least alarming objects you’ll see.

Now that the museum has reopened, there’s a new exhibit of photographs by Nikki Johnson, who got to go behind-the-scenes at the museum and create still-life photos of items that intrigued her.

Fashioning Art from Paper at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum

A new exhibit at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY features life-size costumes that look like fabric but are actually made from paper. Beginning in 1994, Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave started creating these incredible paper works. She ended up with four collections ranging from the fashion of Elizabeth I to 20th century Venice and tributes to famous artists like Picasso and Matisse. All four collections are part of this exhibit.

The museum made a video of the ‘unboxing’ of some of the dresses in the exhibit.

Museum of Flight and other museum openings

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When we’re not in airports, we’re in museums. And right now we’re waiting for the green light to do both.

Here are some of the museums and museums exhibitions on our list.

Museum of Flight – March 4

The Museum of Flight in Seattle will reopen on Thursday, March 4 through Sunday, March 7. After that, the museum will be open every Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until further notice. Attendance will be limited to 25% capacity.

All five buildings on the 23-acre campus, including the open-air, 3-acre Aviation Pavilion will be available to visitors. Smaller galleries, some airplane cabins, and the flight simulators will be closed for COVID-19 safety. But the museum’s Air Force One, Boeing 747, and 787 Dreamliner will be open.

In the meantime, take advantage of the great virtual tours the Museum of Flight has created.

Louisville’s Unfiltered Truth Collection

The Unfiltered Truth Collection in Louisville, KY, launching in March 2012, will highlight the African American influence in Kentucky with a special focus on bourbon, horse racing industries, and Muhammad Ali.

Seven local attractions will be sharing new Black heritage experiences and historical perspectives. Two are already available. The Ideal Bartender Experience at Evan Williams celebrates the Black bartender who made the Old Fashioned famous in the first cocktail book, from 1917. The Kentucky Derby Museum’s new tour tells the story of the African Americans that once headlined the Thoroughbred racing scene.

Music for the Great Sun at Exhibit C Gallery

On March 1, Exhibit C, a Native American art gallery in Oklahoma City, OK owned by the Chickasaw Nation, debuts work by Native American glass artist Preston Singletary and Choctaw artist Marcus Amerman.

For his show, Music for the Great Sun, the two artists joined forces to create work inspired by ancient pieces that were originally made by the Cahokia Moundbuilders imperial craftsmen. The Great Sun was a divine god-king of the Cahokia Moundbuilders, and both the political and religious leader of this ancient class-stratified society.