I love airport art. Some airports are simply functional, like busy small town
bus stations (Bangalore and Frankfurt come to mind). Others are like big expensive
shopping malls (Barcelona and Heathrow/London). My favorite airports offer
restaurants and shops (especially bookstores!) but also good art.
Vancouver (YVR)
and San Francisco
(SFO) are good examples; last week I found another:
Denver (DEN), Colorado.
I have passed through Denver many times but rarely with enough time to notice much.
Last week, on my way to the Grace Hopper
Celebration of Women in Computing in Keystone, Colorado, I had more time.
I flew Frontier Airlines from San Francisco to Denver. Frontier has
delightful animals pictured on their tails with each flight hosted by
the pictured animal. I flew a pelican there and a baby lynx coming home.
The first thing I saw in Denver coming off the plane was
a huge swooping railway sculpture. (I was sorry I could not find any indication
of who created it.) This was followed by “paper” airplanes
floating above the escalators, then two bronze gargoyles sitting in suitcases.
My funniest DEN experience was subtle: steam railroad engine sounds played over
the loudspeakers when the intra-airport shuttle train pulled up to the glass doors.
Someone had a good time designing that!
On the way back home, we arrived at the Denver airport just at dawn. This
was an excellent time to view DEN’s newest major sculputure – the bright
blue rearing
“Mustang” with red lit eyes by Luiz Jimenez. The artist died while
working on this 32-foot cast-fiberglass sculpture but it was finished
and installed to honor him. We drove by too fast for me to take a
picture but “Mustang” is impressive.
I hope to visit DEN again soon so that I can see the rest of the collection.
SFO: Stutz Kore
|
Fontier Pelican Tail
|
DEN: Railroad Sculpture
|
DEN: Rail Sculpture
|
DEN: Airplanes
|
Terry Allen’s Notre Denver Gargoyle
|
Allen’s Denver Gargoyle
|
DEN: “Notre Denver” Gargoyle
|
DEN: “Notre Denver” Gargoyle
|
SFO: Deborah Butterfield’s “Pohina”
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
KatysBlog 
[Trackback] Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!
Hi – great photos of my home airport – especially the gargoyle collection!
Locals here are divided on the mustang. At night the eyes glow red, and I have to say myself it is a bit bizarre.
Next time if accessing the "A" gates again take the walkway (at the north side of the "tent" terminal.) instead of the train.
There’s a long walkway that eventually passes over an active taxiway above the planes, and also a rotating art exhibit. Earlier this year they featured vintage ski gear – with big heavy skis, old boots – and clothing straight out of dynasty.
All the best – james…
http://www.futuregringo.com