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SAN ANTONIO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ART SPACES
CELEBRATES CONTEMPORARY ART MONTH 2006

 

TERMINAL 1, UPPER LEVEL: Painting and Sculpture by Larry Graeber Paintings of different scale utilize variations of the grid to explore vibrant, subtle color relationships and perceptions of depth and form, both complemented by Graeber's rarely exhibited sculptural constructions.

 Terminal 2: Steel Sculptures by George Schroeder
Schroeder's welded steel forms and rough, organic surfaces work both with and against the clean, accordion fold structure of T2's exhibition space. Schroeder?s sculptural works are complemented by drawings and works on paper inspired by the sculpture?s forms.


 

Gary Sweeney's "South Texas Souvenirs" featured at San Antonio International Airport from March 14 - June 4

Gary Sweeney's humor, insight, and gentle criticism of popular culture have made him one of San Antonio's favorite artists and have one him several public art commissions throughout the country. A long time employee of Continental Airlines, Sweeney's newest series of neo-nostalgic BAGGAGE LABELS are humorous meditations on souvenir decals and tourist kitsch. The series consists of prototypes for a permanent outdoor commission for the San Antonio International Airport. 

GARY SWEENEY - With this series of paintings, I've tried to capture both the spirit of my 26 year career as a baggage handler and the dizzying, repetitive blur that represents the life of a frequent flier.  The dotted airplane is an image I've used in the past, most recently as a wall piece using paint can lids for the circles.  The luggage tags represnet the four airports - Los Angeles, Denver, Houston and San Antonio - in which I've worked.  The suitcase - well, the suitcase represents the 2.5 millioin (or so) pieces of luggage a baggage handler stacks over the course of 26 years.

I trust that frequent travelers can relate to the spin of airports, gates and luggage carousels that swirl together in the course of their daily lives.

 

 

San Antonio International Airport Exhibition Program Features Works by Two Local Artists from December 13, 2005 to March 5, 2006

MEREDITH DEAN - For me the nature of a visual image is an exploration beyond language in an endeavor to find metaphors for the unexplainable.  With my work I attempt to discover a resonant visual vocabulary that hints and suggests shifting possibilities, but does not fully reveal solutions.  This is a poetic process that weaves information, overlaid images, experiences and media to explore the ideas of change, drift, movement, wind, time?in both an inner and outer sense.
The visual experience of spending time in Italy has greatly influenced my work. The walls--painted, peeling, layered with time and graffiti, provide a kind of history and vernacular wisdom that has infiltrated my manner of thinking and working.  And sometimes just working is enough --it is the wisdom that is found through the process that seems to mean the most to me.

Maiden?s Journey is a series of prints that grew out of this process of exploration. The prints are puzzle-cut relief prints.  The plates for the prints are ?drawn? with a saw and used in various ways. Many of the images carry more than one level of meaning and thus inform, create, and contradict each other as they move through the series. These plates were only printed once?though some smaller fragment prints exist.  The Artifacts series are made from the plates themselves, transformed into objects that complement the prints and complete the idea of the series.  The small epoxy pieces included in this exhibition are also based on relief prints that form the basis for the small painting that extends out from the imbedded print. 

MARK T. HANSEN - The work in Terminal 2 is essentially a mini ? retrospective of some of the things I?ve done over the last twelve years.  I suppose the common denominator of these pieces is the simplicity of the shapes and ordering systems employed.  Around 1994 I began incorporating elliptical shapes in
the work.  This was inspired by the image of a bowl that I had carved into a ceramic wall piece.  Having thrown hundreds of bowls on the potter?s wheel, it was amusing to me that I was suddenly more interested in the bowl as an image rather than an object.  The ellipse is simply a reduction of the bowl to the shape of it?s opening, seen at an angle.  The red piece and the Tourist pieces are from a series of small works that I consider studies for working out strategies for surfaces and construction.  In many of these works I investigated alternative materials such as rubber and linoleum.

The works in Terminal 1 are coil-built stoneware pieces that I make as demonstrations in the ceramics classes that I teach.  I try to achieve a balance between sculptural form and the ceramic vessel tradition.  Making them is a great deal of fun for me.  Much of my work has to be thoroughly planned and then meticulously executed.  These are a nice break from that. 
I can be more spontaneous.  I begin with a comma shaped base and then see where the pieces want to go from there.  There is a nice sort of dialogue that happens with the work when they are being made, in that the compositional decisions on where to take them and how they are going to end up are influenced by the forms that have already been established.  I use a matte white glaze on almost all of these pieces.  This keeps them more about the form than the surface.  I also like that the iron flecks inherent to the clay body that I use work well with the glaze.

 

 

 

The Airport Art Spaces were created to allow visitors and locals alike a place to experience the artwork of local artists, who are an important part of the vibrant cultural life of the city. These rotating exhibits complement the permanent installations of works at the San Antonio International Airport. For more information on the temporary exhibits, please contact Diana Roberts, Curator at 210-535-7215. For information on works and projects in the permanent collection, contact the Airport Office at 210-207-3450.

MORE PAST EXHIBITS

SAT features work by two local artists from Sept. 13, - Dec. 4, 2005

SAT celebrates Contemporary Art Month: July-Sept. 2005