Panel Completes Plan for Airport Art Displays
By D.R. Stewart, Tulsa World, Okla.
Feb. 1–An advisory panel at Tulsa International Airport has completed its Art and Culture Program Master Plan, which officials hope will transform the passenger terminal into a gallery of paintings, sculpture and regional culture.
“The airport is the first impression visitors have of your community,” said Alexis Higgins, Tulsa International’s deputy director of marketing. “It’s a great opportunity to show what your community is all about.”
The airport’s Cultural Advisory Group developed the master plan over the past year with contributions from the Tulsa Arts Commission and the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust.
The plan outlines how art and culture displays could be funded, what they could include, how to implement, administer, maintain and operate them, the selection of artists and provisions for security.
Today, the potential for artwork in the terminal is being demonstrated by “America’s Favorite Architecture,” a color photography depiction of the country’s 150 greatest buildings, memorials, bridges and stadiums.
The exhibit, courtesy of the American Institute of Architects, is on display in the Great Hall of the center terminal through Feb.
24.
Showcasing art and culture has been a staple at many airports for years. The trend accelerated after the 2001 terrorist attacks, when security concerns slowed the ticketing, screening and boarding processes, causing passengers to spend more time in terminals.
“You’ve got a captive audience,” said Greg Mamary, producer of special projects for the American Association of Airport Executives. “It’s just become a very trendy thing.”
At Denver International Airport, executives are reviewing submissions from Colorado artists, galleries, museums and cultural centers on the subject, “What does Colorado look like to you?”
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, more than 30 local, national and international artists were selected to design artwork for the facility’s new International Terminal D and the Skylink train stations. DFW also has a sculpture garden.
About 300 works of art are displayed throughout the terminal at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, including a large array of stone sculptures from Zimbabwe.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas has long featured “live” music in its center terminal. Today, it also has rotating artwork, color photography from the Texas Hill Country and ceramic, terrazzo and carved granite artworks throughout the airport.
Down the Turner Turnpike, Will Rogers World Airport is exhibiting D.J. Lafon’s “Summer Indian” and Bert Seabourn’s “White Buffalo-Red Sky” in the passenger terminal. The paintings are on loan from the JRB Art at the Elms Gallery in Oklahoma City.
Tulsa International has its permanent art.
An abstract metal sculpture, “Pilot’s Memorial” by David Von Schlegell, installed in 1983, is on display outdoors at the exit lane from the parking lot.
Another outdoor work, “Morning Mission,” a bronze sculpture portraying a World War II pilot and completed by Robert Weinman in 1961, is on a terrace between the east and west baggage claim buildings.
In the center terminal’s Great Hall is Delbert Jackson’s massive oil mural “Panorama of Petroleum,” which was reclaimed from the Smithsonian Institution in 1998.
“Public art is a powerful tool used to create emotion and interest in those who view it,” the Cultural Advisory Group’s master plan says. “Ultimately, it should create value and enhance the environment where it is displayed.”
In the case of Tulsa International’s passenger terminal, there is an ocean of display space: 577,624 square feet of it.
But the airport does not receive any funding from local tax dollars, and federal regulations prohibit the use of airport-generated fees and revenue for any purpose except aviation-related business and facilities.
“The support of local educational institutions, businesses and philanthropists will be vital in the execution of the airport’s Art and Culture Program,” the master plan says.
“Members of the Cultural Advisory Group will work closely with airport staff to identify grant opportunities at local, regional and national foundations to support the program’s development efforts.”
Higgins said the master plan reflects the commitment of the airport board and staff to incorporate Tulsa and northeastern Oklahoma’s unique cultural style in the terminal.
“We’re going to take one area of the terminal at a time and identify community sponsors and potential (art) works,” she said.
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D.R. Stewart 581-8451 don.stewart@tulsaworld.com
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