Art at the Airport

The Art of Travel.

THE ART OF TRAVEL
The inaugural Art of Travel was a high-style retro evening of travel and design. More than 200 Art and Airport supporters celebrated the first fundraiser for Lambert’s Art and Culture Program.

Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge also honored architect Gyo Obata for his contributions to Lambert as an architect on the team that built the historic terminal in 1956. Obata, the co-founder of the global architectural firm HOK, challenged the supporters to join in the effort to re-energize Lambert with art and culture.

The Airport is a gateway to the city. Yama’s (Yamasaki’s) inspiration was the Grand Central Station in New York City,” Obata said. “That building magnified the sensation of arriving and departing into and from a great city. Art in the airport is a very important factor in enriching the airport for travelers. The City Garden in downtown St. Louis is an example of how great art can enrich the environment.”

Sponsors
Airport Terminal Services	Troco
Aldine Travel, Inc.	URS Corporation
Bank of America	Via Partnership
The Boeing Company	Novus International, Inc.
C. Rallo Contracting Co. Inc.	The Paradies Shops
Dywer Brown/Dynamic Arts, LLC	Dorte and Jim Probstein
Kiku Obata & Co.	Professional Business Providers, Inc.
Nancy and Ken Kranzberg	RKL Consulting
Midwest Elevator	Salon 53, a private residential art gallery
Tech Electronics	William and Julie Shearburn

		Donate to Lambert’s Special Art Fund *Tax Deductible to City of St. Louis

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is installing a series of art glass screens in Concourses A & C. These are the first commissioned works through the Airport’s new Public Art and Culture Program.

Nine local artists were chosen for the project through a competitive call to artists. Only artists living within 150 miles of St. Louis were considered.

Each artist created a concept for three side-by-side glass panels, each about 5.5 ft high by 3ft wide, for an overall glass canvas of nearly 50 square feet. The artists were chosen by the Airport’s new Art Advisory committee, with a focus on their past artistic works and the best artistic styles that would translate into glass.

“The nine selected regional artists represent a wide variety of contemporary artistic styles. The result will be an exciting and diverse collection of nine works created specifically for Lambert,” said Jill McGuire, Executive Director of the Regional Art Commission and member of the Airport’s Art Advisory Committee. “It is wonderful to see Lambert’s commitment to enriching its public spaces with art.”

The Art Glass Screens will be installed in two phases. The first installation is scheduled for late April 2011.

Artist Concepts and Bios.

“To see it happen, and in such a serene atmosphere is a great joy for me. I know airports are so important because they move people around the surface of the earth and it creates a possibility of understanding.” –
Leonard Nierman, Sensación de Vuelo, 2011

The City of St. Louis and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport officially dedicated an original sculpture by internationally recognized Mexican artist Leonardo Nierman entitled “Sensación de Vuelo” (Flying Sensation) on July 13, 2011.

The sculpture, intertwined steel ribbons that point to the sky, was a gift by the artist to St. Louis on behalf of the people of Mexico. The 10-ft high polished steel work of art is just west of Terminal 2 on the lawn near the International Arrivals Lobby at Lambert.

Nierman has paintings, sculptures and tapestries in collections around the world, including The Museum of Modern Art in Mexico, The Gallery of Modern Art in New York, The Vatican Museum in Rome and The Museum of Contemporary Arts in Madrid, among others, and his public art is exposed in many important cities, such as Salzburg, Austria; Rome, Italy; Santander, Spain; Ottawa and Vancouver, Canada; Lausanne, Switzerland; and many cities in the United States.
This is the first major art donation to be received under the Airport’s new Art and Culture Program, which was launched in 2010.

“Black Americans in Flight” is an 8-foot x 51-foot multi-panel painting that pays tribute to African-American achievements in aviation from 1917 through the late 1980s. The historic mural includes 75 portraits, 18 aircraft, three American Bald Eagles, five unit patches and one spacecraft.

The Committee for the Aviation Mural Projects Success (CAMPS) launched the mural project in 1984. In 1986 CAMPS commissioned local artist Spencer Taylor to create and develop a mural to honor St. Louis African-American pilots of World War II. Taylor then enlisted the help of another local artist, Solomon Thurman, who assisted him in this two year endeavor. Taylor is nationally recognized and known for his realistic mural paintings including murals commissioned by the City of New Orleans and McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

Since the formal dedication ceremonies on August 13, 1990, the mural has been permanently displayed at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport between the C Concourse Checkpoint and baggage claim in the lower level of what is now Terminal 1. It stands as a shining example of the visions and common interests in aviation among Americans.