Thursday, July 5, 2007
A growing number of airports, including a Western North Carolina airport that features a wave-like glass sculpture, are using art to bolster tourism, polish the image of their host community and soothe passengers in what can be a stressful environment.
“You’ve got a captive audience,” said Greg Mamary, the producer of special projects for the American Association of Airport Executives. “It’s just become a very trendy thing.”
The Asheville Regional Airport in North Carolina opened an art gallery June 1 featuring 47 paintings and sculptures from local artists, including the ocean-like Swell.
There are already plans to expand the gallery, which gives local artists a stage and gives travelers something to look at.
“It gives them something to do and exposes passengers who are coming or going to that Western North Carolina culture,” said airport spokeswoman Patti Michel.
Dayton International Airport in Ohio will begin hanging paintings, displaying sculptures and possibly staging musical performances this fall.
The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, damaged by Hurricane Katrina, will begin displaying art when renovations are completed in September. Pottery, paintings and wall-wrap art of pelicans and other local waterfowl are on tap.
“For us, it’s huge because we lost so much identity and culture due to the hurricane,” said Jeremiah Gerald, an air-service development manager of the Mississippi airport.
Smaller airports are jumping on a bandwagon that many larger airports have been riding for years.
About 300 pieces of art can be seen at Atlanta’s airport, including a large display of stone sculptures from Zimbabwe. In the baggage area, giant lifelike ants appear to emerge from a hole in the ceiling and crawl over the ductwork - a metaphor for the anthill-like flurry of airport activity. The Phoenix airport has 500 pieces of art in 24 areas, a collection that has been steadily growing. Lennee Eller, the program manager of the Phoenix Airport Museum, said that many airports are just starting art programs. She calls it the “artport” phenomenon.
“We’re at the verge of really developing an industry. We’ve convinced the powers-that-be that we’re cool,” Eller said. “I have 42 million passengers a year. There is no other museum in Arizona that has that kind of audience.”
Indianapolis’ new airport, scheduled to open in 2008, will display $3.9 million worth of art. The new airport will feature hand-blown glass murals etched with the poetry of local artists, an aviation-theme sculpture with more than 100 pieces of perforated metal and silver beaded chains, and bronzed vintage luggage that will serve as chairs and tables in the baggage area.
Ann Markusen, an economist at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute who studies the effect of art on the economy, said that some communities fail to use their airports to promote themselves. Large numbers of travelers of all ages and origins often have to spend considerable time at the airports, she said.
“And there is incredible wasted space at airports,” Markusen said.
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