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Public Art programs at San Antonio International Airport
As a facility of the City of San Antonio, the Airport is home to both permanent exhibits/installations and a rotating gallery exhibit. These exhibits are administered by Public Art San Antonio (PASA), for more information please visit their website at http://www.publicartsa.com
Terminal A: Gate Portals
San Antonio and South Texas are defined as much by their history as by their festive culture, events, and places. To capture the region ’ s very interesting cultural mix, as well as its uniqueness, the City commissioned internationally recognized San Antonio artist Cesar Martinez to design distinctive portals in the concourse at 12 airline gates.

As arriving passengers step off their plane, they will enter into one of 12 canopy-like structures designed by Mr. Martinez. The portals are supported by four columns and complemented in design theme by coordinating terrazzo floor areas. The multi-faceted portal artworks feature glass/ceramic photographic tile murals bordered by columns with tile and silk-screened or etched design metal treatments. Each column has unique tile designs that relate back to the photographic murals, as well as metallic collars that occur at the bases.
   

GATE 9 PORTAL
Fiesta
CESAR MARTINEZ

 GATE 7 PORTAL
Spirit of The Coahuilteco
CESAR MARTINEZ

GATE 10 PORTAL
Market Square
CESAR MARTINEZ

 

GATE 3 PORTAL
Conjunto
CESAR MARTINEZ

GATE 2 PORTAL
Jones Bridge
CESAR MARTINEZ

GATE 11 PORTAL
Presa Street Bridge
CESAR MARTINEZ

GATE 12 PORTAL
Japanese Sunken Gardens
CESAR MARTINEZ

GATE 13 PORTAL
Fiesta Dance
CESAR MARTINEZ

GATE 14 PORTAL
Charreada
CESAR MARTINEZ

     

GATE 15 PORTAL
Southside Missions
CESAR MARTINEZ

 

 

Terminal A: International Arrivals Mezzanine - San Antonio River
At the heart of San Antonio's existence is its river. The San Antonio River was always here, quietly winding its way down to the Gulf of Mexico. This portal wall mural honors one of its commonest denizens, a fish called the Rio Grande Cichlid. More commonly, it is called a mojarra, a generic designation for this type of fish in South Texas Spanish, always here, still here.
 
 
Terminal A: Riverwalk Theme
Visitors to the City will also experience their first walk along the San Antonio River at the Airport ’ s main food and retail concession area. Los Angeles-based artist May Sun was commissioned by the City to develop a concept that ties the concourse and central food and retail court areas with the imagery that depicts the natural environment of the San Antonio River. Ms. Sun ’ s visuals of a lush riverbed, its wildlife and vegetation have been integrated into a wonderful floor design that has been created using the terrazzo technique. The incorporated natural patterns, colorful hues and detailed imagery give the floor an artistic natural feel not normally found in typical floor treatments. Ms. Sun also created plaques, installed as part of the fountain located at the Terminal A Main Food Court. These plaques depict distinctive features of the San Antonio missions.
 
Parking Garage Permanent Exhibits
The completion of a $33 million Parking and Roadway Improvements Project, designed by Marmon Mok, occurred in October 1999. Marmon Mok collaborated with artists, Bill FitzGibbons of San Antonio, Texas and Christopher Janney of Lexington, Massachusetts, in the design of two major walkways: Day Star Walkway and Paseo. These innovative architectural enhancements were installed to provide parking patrons with an easily recognizable pathway from the new garage to both terminals.
   

Day Star Archway
BILL FITZGIBBONS

Visible as one drives into the San Antonio International Airport along Airport Boulevard toward the parking garage ticket booths and the terminals, Bill FitzBibbons ’ “ Daystar Archway ” stands out in front of the southwest facade of the new long-term garage completed in July 2008.  Made from the crossed wings of a BACH-11 airplane, the archway was relocated due to construction and in the process was retrofitted with special LED lighting.

 

Paseo Walkway
Christopher Janney

Within the garage structure, Christopher Janney designed the Paseo Walkway. The Paseo directs parking patrons to Terminal 1 along an avenue covered by a festive colored skylight. The remarkable thing about this public sculpture is that its real significance is the awareness of time and the sun ’ s movement across the sky as it casts a rainbow of colors across the garage walls and floor and the draws parking patrons to move through the streams of various colors. Along with this colorful moving skyline grid, high-tech light fixtures with lights that flicker and flash to emitting rhythmic sounds guide customers in the garage walkways to and from the terminals.
   
Suit Case Portriats
Chuck Ramirez

Chuck Ramirez has created 12 large-scale light boxes to show his series of photographs of suitcases opened to reveal the diverse and often humorous range of personal possessions belonging to imaginary owners.  Ramirez purchased borrowed and appropriated found objects to fill the suitcases.  “ Buddha, ” for example, contains a portable shrine with flowers, candles and a statue of Buddha.  Photographed in color against plain white backgrounds in ultra-high resolution, the suitcases and their fanciful contents are displayed in large light boxes mounted along the front of the long-term parking garage.

     
Nostalgia, Texas
Gary Sweeney

Gary Sweeney has designed neo-retro tourist posters for San Antonio and the near-by Hill Country.  With slogans such as “ HemisFair ’ 68 – You ’ re Way too Late ” , “ San Antonio: Fiesta, Siesta, Repeat and “ Summer in San Antonio: Sun tea in less than a minute, ” Sweeney combines nostalgia with tongue-in-cheek humor in his deliberately out-of-whack tourist posters, which have been installed to resemble old-time highway billboards lined up at the entrance of the new long-term parking garage.

     
A Can For All Seasons
Alejandro Diaz

"A Can For All Seasons" by Alejandro Diaz lines the pedestrian walkway at the San Antonio International Airport short-term parking garage.  Purchased in 2006 for the Airport's art collection, "A Can For All Season" is a series of four can sculptures fabricated in aluminum and hand-painted with an industrial-grade enamel.  Each can comes with a removable lid and can be used as a maceta or planter.