This is not a new development. Even before the big renovations at TSAIA, the airport has been a natural showcase for some some incredible art. Check out the photo gallery. Here’s some background:
Our airport, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (TSAIA) has an incredible Alaska Native art collection on display. The original 154 works (acquired in 1990) were supplemented with 41 newer pieces in 1999, and with 26 dolls in 2005. The Tradition, Innovation and Continuity collection was brought together in the new mezzanine area at the center of the building, above Starbucks between the “B” and “C” concourses.
But check out the giant glass sculpture in front of the TSA security checkpoint. It’s called “Migration,” by glass artist Lutz Haufschild . “Migration alludes to the much loved pristine outdoors of Alaska and the annual miracle of salmon migrating. Photos of salmon taken in Katmai National Park were transformed into templates in the 3 D Maya computer program. These templates were then used to cut hundreds of strips of glass (up to 12 ” wide) which were laminated vertically into a steel base for earth
quake proofing.”
The next time you’re in the “B” concourse, look up and see the flying geese! This larger-than-life sculpture of 15 individual Canada Geese celebrates these particular birds that inhabit much of Alaska each summer. “Interior Alaska, my home and the geese’s annual stopover, is represented in the carved heads and necks of the sculpture,” said artist Rachelle Dowdy. “The wood is recycled spruce cabin logs that were felled the year I was born. My family’s Missouri farm roots, and another stopover in the Geese migration, are represented in the plow discs that form the feet of the standing goose.”
I love this bone carving by John and Minnie Sinnok (right). Special thanks to Andrea Noble-Pelant, Visual and Literary Arts Program Director for the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
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