Love Field’s makeover of public art makes air travel glamorous again
ART ART | Among the public art projects at Love Field are, from opposite: ‘North Texas Sunrise,’ ‘Intersected Passage,’ ‘Back in a Moment’ and, above the terminal concourse, an ever-changing sky mobile.
When I flew out of Love Field last summer for the first time in more than a year, I immediately knew something was different. Of course, I was aware of the renovations that have been going on for several years; what I didn’t realize was how far they had come.
Now, Love Field — the charming “neighborhood” airport with commuter flights and easy access that has been a lightning rod for controversy around its epic battles with American Airlines and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport — was up and running … and looking remarkably like the Galleria. Not only where there many stores and a lovely, wide-open concourse, but shops of all kinds — including the restaurant Sky Canyon by Stephan Pyles — dot the area behind the TSA line. (More on that later.) While there is still some work to go (the baggage carousel area won’t be completed until 2014, just in time for the Wright Amendment to expire), Love Field is a haven at present not just for travelers and shoppers, but something else: interesting public art.
Yes, art.
You often don’t think of an airport as a gallery space for large, interesting works other than the aircraft themselves. But that’s exactly what they’re doing at Love, from terrazzo flooring to varied murals and mosaics to plant sculptures that spell the word “LOVE” in bromeliad succulents, Love Field is worth a visit on its own … even if you don’t plan to go anywhere.
Of course, if you don’t go anywhere, you’ll miss many of the works, which are on the concourse beyond the security check. Perhaps the most impressive of these is a “sky mobile” with cut-outs and LED lights that changes regularly above the floor of the main terminal.
But even on the pre-security side, there’s plenty to see and enjoy, from the outdoor mediative space where the metal sculpture Back in a Moment dominates, to the gorgeous mosaic of North Texas Sunrise immediately outside the check-in to the Pompidou Centre-esque Intersected Passage that frames one of the entrances. Wherever you look, there’s a lot to Love.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 29, 2013.