Art in Public Places at the Miami International Airport.
Written by Abel S.
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At the International Baggage Claim Area of South Terminal is Norie Sato’s Ghost Palms, also from 2007. Ghost Palms combines the organic structure of palm trees with the clean lines of the terminals’ architecture, producing a subtle dichotomy between the natural and man made. Sited at five locations along the 300 foot-long glass interior wall of the International Baggage Claim, Ghost Palms uses softly colored iridescent glass to create a space full of oversized “stained glass”. Sato has also designed a terrazzo floor for the baggage claim area, which mirrors the reflection of the glass windows and creates the illusion of shadows cast on the floor by the palm images. Norie Sato is a renowned Seattle-based artist with experience in planning diverse projects, from small community-based plans to larger public spaces. Her work includes public art plans for transit in Portland, Phoenix, and Seattle; urban corridors in Seattle and Boise; and airports in Denver, Miami, and Seattle.
Continuing towards Concourse H is Robert Calvo’s Flight Patterns created in 1997. With this 880-foot-long floor mural, Robert Calvo explored notions of time, travel, distance, location, and discovery. The artist addressed the tension between the impulse to travel and the need to return home, as his floor imagery recurred to maps, celestial cycles, and astrology. On the stairways to the third level, Calvo inlaid evocative proverbs and poems, inviting the traveler to upper areas of the concourse. The work was done in more than ten colors of terrazzo, to create a thoughtful environment tending to balance “transience and nomadism with domesticity and sense of place” as defined by the artist himself.
One of the most outstanding collaborative projects is located high above the concourse floor adjacent to clerestory windows. Aqua / Botanica, from 1997 is a sculptural glass installation reflecting, transmitting, and modulating natural light. Oregon artist Ed Carpenter collaborated with architect Mike McCulloch and artist John Rogers to develop a visual system in which progressions of interval, line, and contour lead travelers through the concourse and unify the space. In this wonderful installation, Florida’s intense sunlight filters through chemically treated “dichroic” glass to create fluid “light paintings” on the undulating ceiling and upper concourse walls. At night, lighting installed beneath the glass structures creates a different but equally dramatic effect. Ed Carpenter received his education from the University of California at Santa Barbara and Berkeley. He has served as the Metropolitan Arts Commissioner for Portland, Oregon where he also founded the Public Art Advisory Committee.
In 2003, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places commissioned another monumental project to Chicago artist John David Mooney. Miami Wave, a two-part installation sited in the central island of the entrance and Toll Collection Plaza, was inspired by Miami’s light and water. Mooney envisioned Miami Wave as a place of welcome and memory for those entering and exiting the area. In this project, Mooney’s creative use of color and line take advantage of the kinetic qualities of a wave moving through space and time, transmitting to the viewer a special sense of Miami’s place in the universe.
A total of eleven monumental artworks have been installed at Miami International Airport by Art in Public Places. Unfortunately, we don’t count with enough editorial space to feature them all, but we will continue following the traces of Art in Public Places throughout Miami-Dade County in future editions. Stay tune for more re-discoveries.
