Arts Travel: Mile-High Art Club
- Gordon Huether’s “Red Island” is one of six glass panels installed in a Houston airport. Credit: Misha Bruk
Magazine stands, coffee kiosks, long lines and business suits … there are certain things you’ve come to expect at the airport. Art installations probably aren’t one of them. But several airports across the country are inviting artists to create temporary exhibitions and permanent installations as a way to “humanize” the often-unfriendly spaces. Here’s a look at two of them:
The Philadelphia International Airport is currently showing four temporary exhibitions from The Clay Studio in Philadelphia as part if its ongoing exhibition program. “Generation” by Myung Jin Choi includes five views of the city, consisting of more than 7,000 ceramic elements. “Wonderkammer: Cabinets of Wonder” showcases the work of area school children. Douglas Herren and Hiroe Hanazono also have their own exhibitions; all four shows will remain on view through September.
Gordon Huether completed the permanent glass installation “Over Houston” at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, in December. Six large glass panels, each an abstracted view of aerial photographs Huether shot in the area, line the connector bridge of the airport. The project took 4,000 studio hours to complete.
