A visit to Sioux Falls Regional Airport means more than beginning or ending a journey. It also gives travelers the opportunity to visit a gallery featuring work created by local and regional artists and a focus on art in architecture.
The unofficial art gallery is expanding as the final pieces have been placed on the recently renovated airport terminal’s walls. Installation includes two glazed ceramic-tile mosaics designed by a local college professor.
Scott Parsons’ mosaics, titled “Flights of Fancy,” are among nine pieces chosen to enhance the traveling experience in the newly reconfigured lobby area and elsewhere, said Dan Letellier, the airport’s executive director.
“We wanted to make it inviting and the central focus point for travelers and the family and friends there to greet them,” Letellier said. “We wanted to make it inviting, and for new people to the area, we wanted to let them know this is more than a prairie city and airport. We have a lot going on in the airport and a lot of great local artists.”
Nine pieces of art were chosen for the airport.
TSP, Inc. of Sioux Falls designed the renovated airport, which included a seven-phase project involving the interconnected lobby, ticketing and baggage-claim areas as well as the second-floor security checkpoint. Administrative offices were relocated to make more room for screening queues and equipment. Passenger flow was redesigned from the lobby to the second floor, and moving ramps were replaced with escalators and an accessible elevator.
The process to select art that would enhance the airport experience began about one year ago, TSP architect Michelle Klobassa said. Wall locations expansive enough to support large works of art were pinpointed from spaces where travelers entered the airport through the lines at the security checkpoints.
“We determined which places would make the most sense to display art to draw people through the different spaces,” Klobassa said. “We did walk-throughs with the artists to see the paint colors and materials we had designed into the space already and where we would need to add more backing to the wall.”
TSP worked with Ivy Oland, owner of Oland Arts Consulting, to seek proposals from regional artists.
“Renovation of the public spaces was an opportunity to newly acquire artwork for those spaces,” Oland said. “As a consultant to the airport, I worked with them to bring a group of interested and relevant parties to review and select artwork. It was a great group, insightful and thoughtful. We had a discussion about what the art would communicate to those using the facility.”
Not only would the selected pieces provide a distraction to anxious travelers, it also would give the airport the chance to showcase the region’s history, industry, culture and geography, Oland said.
“It was very intentional in not treating the artwork as décor,” Oland said. “Décor is nice and has its place, but it’s frequently intended to blend in with the environment. We want art not to match but be in harmony with the environment. It was important to us to have diversity in the collection and the mediums and the imagery.”
Flexibility was key as the proposed images came back to the assembled subcommittee. For Klobassa, looking at the art submitted to the subcommittee became one of the most exciting times in the entire process. The planners didn’t want the airport art to be all landscapes or animals but to showcase the area, and pieces ranged from traditional to contemporary.
“The bigger purpose was to help provide the most positive experience for visitors and for our community as possible,” Oland said.
Among the artists whose works were chosen are Ceca Cooper, a professor at the University of Sioux Falls; Mary Groth, a local artist who primarily works in oils and pastels; Michael Sweere of Minneapolis, who creates collages from scrap metal; Michael Heinrich, an Omaha-based artist working in mixed media; and Parsons, a professor of art at Augustana University who specializes in public art installations. Parsons also designed the mosaic floor for St. Michael Catholic Church in Sioux Falls, another TSP project.
Parsons’ mosaics for Sioux Falls Regional Airport were designed to reflect upon an airport’s role in people’s lives and what travelers might be thinking about.
“All journeys, both unexpected and planned, begin with once upon a time,” Parsons said. “And time, of course, becomes the primary concern for visitors to an airport. So I explore time in a finite sense with flight times and schedules and moving these visually into something with more of a sense of timelessness, such as the stars and the people who have danced on the prairie for countless generations.”
The mosaic tiles were crafted by the firm that did the same for St. Michael Church, Mosaika of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Artists flew in to Sioux Falls to begin installing Parsons’ mosaics at the airport. Each tile was individually made with some displaying a smooth surface and others rougher textures.
As the mosaics go up, several other pieces are being framed, Letellier said. When work is finished, two will be placed in the gate area with another outside security. A place for art outside the ticketing area will have rotating artwork every 18 months or so, while new displays in another area also will be revised periodically with local art.
“Whether you’re from the area or you’re visiting, what we display at the airport is a bit of a snapshot,” Letellier said. “It’s another amenity we can offer.”
