Pittsburgh International Airport

Mister Rogers back at Pittsburgh Int’l Airport

Kids, ,

After a six-month vacation, the Mister Rogers exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport is back in place at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).

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Repaired, refurbished and now technologically up-to-date, the exhibit still includes one of Mister  Rogers’ signature sweaters, his sneakers, a miniature Neighborhood of Make Believe and clay models of the show’s characters, including King Friday and Henrietta Pussycat.

But now the exhibit also includes updated graphics and a video about the public television show, which was originally taped in Pittsburgh.

David Newell, better known as Mr. McFeely or “Speedy McFeely,” the postman on the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood show, told me the exhibit is back just in time: Mister Rogers’ birthday is coming up and so is Sweater Day, March 20th.  On that day everyone is encouraged to wear a sweater – especially if they’re going to the airport.

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You can see the refreshed Mr. Rogers’ exhibit on Concourse C at Pittsburgh International Airport, next to a children’s play area. Of course.

Recycled fashion at Pittsburgh International Airport

Art, Fashion, ,

Would you wear clothing made out of old newspapers, crushed glass, old detergent bottles and bits and pieces of aluminum cans?

If they looked like the duds Nancy Judd makes, you just might.

Judd is an environmental artist who makes award-winning fashion out of the stuff most of us throw away. And from now through the end of the year you can see her custom-designed recycled garments in the Recycle Runway exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)

Here are a few samples:

(Photo courtesy: Nancy Judd) This outfit is made of old phone book pages woven together and made into a skirt and vest. Woven directories also cover the cowgirl boots and hat.

(Photo courtesy: Nancy Judd)

For this outfit, plastic detergent bottles were cut into circles and hand-sewn onto a vintage bathing suit and shoes.

Catch the Calder at Pittsburgh International Airport

Art

For years, a graceful aluminum and iron mobile by Alexander Calder has been suspended over the air-side central atrium at Pittsburgh International Airport.

The work, titled Pittsburgh, was originally designed for a Carnegie Institute exhibition in 1958 and was moved to the airport in 1959. Except for a stint at the Carnegie Museum of Art during the construction of the current terminal, the mobile has been greeting travelers at PIT ever since.

Soon, though, the Calder will be taking a trip: the airport has agreed to loan the mobile to the Palazzo delle Esposizioni museum in Rome for a Calder exhibit they’re hosting in the winter of 2009.

So catch the Calder before it flies away. The Calder exhibit in Rome is scheduled to run from February through May 2009.

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Photo Courtesy Pittsburgh International Airport

Sweaters, everyone

Events, History, USA Today,

I’m tickled to be doing a guest stint this week and next writing the Airport Check-In column over at USA TODAY.

This week’s topics include the re-freshed exhibits at the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and, for those celebrating “Won’t You Be My Neighbor Days” a reminder that there’s a Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport.

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Photo: Family Communications