Sacramento International Airport

Sneak peek at Sacramento Airport’s new terminal

Art, ,

Sacramento International Airport’s (SMF) new $1 billion Central Terminal B opens for business on Thursday, and during my tour of the space on Monday, workers were still busy with some finishing touches.

All the artwork was in place, though and there are some great pieces. Here are some samples. More tomorrow…

At 56 feet long and bright red, Lawrence Argent’s giant, red, aluminum rabbit, titled “Leap,” is impossible to miss. Where is he leaping to? Into a giant granite suitcase below.

Donald Lipski’s sculpture, “Acorn Steam,” is a chandelier in the form of a Valley Oak tree decorated with several thousand Swarovski crystals. The work is thirty feet in diameter. (Acorn Steam is an anagram of Sacramento.)

Mildred Howard’s 17-foot glass house, titled “The House Will Not Pass for Any Color but Its Own,” is made of glass strips and welcomes travelers as they step off the people mover and approach the security checkpoint.

There’s more – much more – so please check back here tomorrow.

(Photos courtesy Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, Sacramento County Airport System. “Leap” photos by Glen Peach)

Giant rabbit joins baggage towers at Sacramento Airport

Art,

I’m looking forward to seeing Sacramento International Airport’s new Central Terminal B, which opens to the public on Thursday, October 6th.

Among the artwork in the new terminal is this sculpture of a giant red rabbit, titled Leap, by Lawrence Argent.

Still over in “old” Terminal A, though, is one of my favorite airport sculptures: the two towers of baggage that make up Samson, by Brian Goggin.

Cats – sort of – at Sacramento International Airport

Art,

Here’s a sample of the art on exhibit at Sacramento International Airport through mid-April as part of the In the Studio: Public Artists in Their Private Spaces exhibition.

Gerald Heffernon art work

The exhibition, which fills 10 display cases in Terminal B, features sculpture, oil painting and other studio artwork of some well-known public artists from the Sacramento area, including Suzanne Adan, Gerald Heffernon, Kurt Steger, Willem de Groot, Jack Nielsen, Michael Stevens and Richard Feese.

The pieces in Gerald Heffernon’s Cat Book Cats Case (above) are whimsical and sort of scary and include Neckless Guinea, Sabertoothed Tabby, Cabbit, and Caterpunk

Heffernon also made the bronze “Rabbits Reading” sculpture in Sacramento’s Shasta Park. Two rabbits read, one from a book, the other from a laptop computer.

Souvenir Sunday: get some gold at Sacramento International Airport

Fun Stuff, Layover, Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, ,

AYP Novelty Shop from UW Libraries, digital collection

Sunday is Souvenir Sunday here at StuckatTheAirport.com. It’s the day we take a look at some of the fun, inexpensive and “of” a city items you might pick up when you’re stuck at the airport.

This Sunday’s souvenir comes to us from Sacramento International Airport.

Sacramento Made fruit crate label

Back in 1848, you may remember from your history books, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, not far from Sacramento. This set off the California Gold Rush and a massive migration to California.

Today, you don’t have to go to all that trouble of mining for gold in Sacramento. You can just pick up a few of these tiny gold-filled bottles at the airport on your way home.

Sacramento Airport Gold Jars

Do you poke around for souvenirs when you’re stuck at the airport? If you see something fun, inexpensive ($10 or less) and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo and send it along to use here at StuckatTheAirport.com.  Your souvenir may be featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

Airports with great artwork

Art, , ,

On the road but no time to visit the art museum? Don’t fret: along with fine dining, boutique shopping and full-service spas, top-notch art collections are now permanent amenities at many airport terminals.

For a slide-show on MSN.com, I pulled together examples of some of the fun stuff you’ll find in 15 airports in North America.

You can see the full slide show by visiting the story on MSN.com Travel: Airports with the Best Artwork,  but here’s a preview:

DFW STANDING OVATION

Artwork, some of it Texas-sized, by more than 30 local, national and internationally known artists dots DFW: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Terminal D and the Skylink train stations. Look down to see elaborate medallions in the terrazzo floors, look up to see giant murals and mobiles and look straight ahead to see unusual sculptures such as Anitra Blayton’s 16-foot tall “Standing Ovation,” (above) made from the casts of hundreds of pairs of hands.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) the flying corncob on Concourse E is Craig Nutt’s work: “Corncorde,”

ATL Corncorde

And at Sacramento International Airport (SMF) the big attraction is the supersized “Samson,” a sculpture in the Terminal A baggage-claim area made of two 23-foot tall towers of stacked luggage made of 1,400 pieces of cast-offs donated by area residents.

Sacramento - SamsonTo see more fun airport art, see the full-length slide show on MSN.com travel: Airport with the Best Artwork.

If I missed some great airport that you especially like, please let me know!