"Art and aviation: Airports increasingly including museum displays as part of facilities"

Friday, July 8, 2005

Art and aviation 
Airports increasingly including museum displays as part of facilities
By Michelle Swafford
The Las Vegas (NV) Sun


Airports are not traditionally thought of as a place to showcase art and
artifacts but an increasing number of them -- including McCarran
International Airport -- are opening museums.

In 1993 McCarran opened the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, which features
thousands of artifacts that tell the history of Las Vegas and highlight
aviation's evolution.

The 3,000-square-foot museum -- located on the second floor of the main
terminal -- is jointly operated by the state Department of Parks and
Recreation and the Department of Aviation. The airport invests about
$300,000 annually to maintain the museum, McCarran spokeswoman Elaine
Sanchez said.

Other museum-owned artifacts are featured throughout the airport in both
terminals and at the North Las Vegas Airport. The main terminal features a
1956 Ford Thunderbird that is a replica of the crash wagon operated by Alamo
Airways when the airport was founded in 1942, Museum Administrator Mark
Hall-Patton said.

"Unlike a lot of programs, this is a program that has all the aspects of a
normal museum except that it is in an airport instead of in a museum
building," Hall-Patton said, adding that it's also open 24 hours unlike
traditional museums.

Model airplanes, uniforms, wing pins and manuals are some of the items that
depict the first airlines in Las Vegas, important aviators, women in
aviation, children in aviation and flight records.

A Cessna 172 airplane that set the world endurance aloft record -- the
pilots were in the air for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds --
in late 1958 and early 1959 hangs over the north end of baggage claim,
Hall-Patton said.

"That records stands to this day," he said.

The family of local airport founder George Crockett provided the initial
collection. Since then, retired airport employees and aviation enthusiasts
have donated items, all of which are archived and available to public for
research.

"Las Vegas has a history and aviation is a big part of that," Hall-Patton
said.

About 1 percent of the airport's travelers -- or about 400,000 people --
take in the museum attractions, Hall-Patton said.

"It's one where people coming to the museum don't come because they've made
a conscious decision to do so," he said. "It catches people who are not
necessarily regular museumgoers. People don't come to LV to go the museum.
This will hopefully catch people and let them learn a little in a setting
where they have absolute choice over their time."

Displays are changed occasionally and, while some items are in storage, the
airport is always accepting collectible donations, Hall-Patton said.

In addition to the aviation items, McCarran features several public displays
of art such as the gem garden, mosaic art tiles and life-size paper
airplanes created by local children and murals painted by professional
artists, Sanchez said.

"In light of people coming earlier with security, it's something nice to
look at," she said. "Museums and public art change the atmosphere."

Las Vegas is not the only airport investing in art and collectibles to make
traveling more beautiful.

Airports in San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia and Miami
are among the growing number of places where luggage and art coexist.

Displays at other airports vary dramatically from baseball exhibits in
Philadelphia to giant wishbones in Dallas and Miami's architecture.

Dallas/Fort Worth International has invested about $6 million for large art
medallions by local artists in its new international terminal that is
scheduled to open later this month.

Miami International is spending about $18 million on art projects through
2010 as part of its capital improvements.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************