Client: Continental Airlines and the City of Cleveland

Location: Cleveland, OH, United States

Completion date: 1999

Artwork budget: $240,000

Project Team

Client

Andy Yoder

Continental Airlines

Client

The City of Cleveland

Art Consultant

Rvw Sculpture Arrangement

Overview

The site consists of two 60-ft tall atrium spaces bookending an underground walkway at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. The color scheme for the walls was also an important part of the commission.

Goals

The commission's goal was to create a positive, lively, and engaging experience for travelers using the airport. The committee emphasized that it wanted fresh, unconventional approaches for this commission. My artistic goals were to activate the space, with paper airplanes reminding viewers of their first interaction with flight, with childhood memories helping to dissolve their anxieties of traveling by air.

Process

This commission needed to be completed quickly in advance of the opening ceremony for the new terminal. Using the artist's model, hanging points were welded into the roof structure, and hanging cables were pre-cut to specific lengths. Because of the looming deadline, any delays or glitches would have led to cancellation of the project, but it was completed on time and within the budget.

Additional Information

Installation was extremely challenging due to the roof structure's ironwork being closed up. It became a high-wire operation, with riggers and planes lifted up to the ceiling by cranes outside the building, dropping their cables through ceiling pipes, then clipping hanging cables onto the pre-set hanging points.