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America's Friendliest Airport

PHOENIX AIRPORT MUSEUM

Fact Sheet and Submission Information

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is among the top 10 busiest airport in the United States in terms of take-offs and landings. On a typical day, 108,887 passengers arrive and depart on 1,486 arriving and departing aircraft at Sky Harbor’s three terminals (2, 3 and 4).

Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, a general aviation reliever airport for Phoenix Sky Harbor, is among the busiest general aviation airport in the world. Phoenix Goodyear Airport, also a general aviation reliever airport for Phoenix Sky Harbor, is home to the Airline Training Center of Arizona.

The Phoenix Airport Museum, a section of the Phoenix Aviation Department, serves all three airports and is one of the largest airport museums in the nation. The museum maintains an art collection, manages temporary exhibitions and takes care of the Phoenix Aviation Archive.

Mission
Through the art collection, exhibitions and aviation archive, the Phoenix Airport Museum’s mission is to enhance the public’s experience by creating memorable environments in the airport system that promote Arizona's unique artistic and cultural heritage.

Art Collection
Art at Sky Harbor has been a tradition since 1962 with the building of Terminal 2. As terminals were built, art purchases were made by architects with citizen and Aviation Board input. When Terminal 3 was built in 1979, Phoenix corporations provided funds to purchase artwork.

In 1986, Phoenix passed an ordinance to allocate up to one percent of the city’s construction funds for public art. Today, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture’s Public Art Program, working in collaboration with the Phoenix Airport Museum, administers the process for obtaining public art for the airports.

Currently, the art collection includes more than 500 works. Artwork continues to be added – and relocated – as the airports expand. The collection includes large murals and freestanding sculpture. It also includes portable works that are rotated throughout the airport system. These include paintings, photographs, ceramics and fine-art prints.

Exhibitions
In 1989, the Phoenix Aviation Department began providing spaces for exhibitions to promote Arizona through its arts, culture, sciences, natural and historical attractions. Currently, the airport system has more than 25 display areas that include a gallery, built-in cases, and portable walls and pedestals. Display areas are added and changed as the airport grows.

Most exhibitions are in terminals rather than concourses so that visitors may view them without going through airport security. All are free and most are accessible 24 hours daily. Deer Valley and Goodyear are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Most exhibitions are from six to eight months. All types and styles of artwork are shown along with historical and regional memorabilia and artifacts. Children’s artwork created in schools and after-school programs also is featured. The exhibition schedule is on the airport’s web site: www.phxskyharbor.com.

Phoenix Aviation Archive
Throughout the history of the airport system, items have been gathered from many sources. These artifacts, photographs and documents pertain to the Sky Harbor, Deer Valley and Goodyear aviation communities. An archive was established to centralize and preserve this collection. Items from the Phoenix Aviation Archive are sometimes used for airport exhibitions to increase public awareness of important achievements made in Arizona air transport.

Artist Selection Process

Exhibitions
The Phoenix Airport Museum provides exhibitions in more than 25 display areas within six buildings at three airports. Exhibitions showcase Arizona’s unique artistic and cultural heritage. Most are from six to eight months.

The resources available within the Arizona community (artists, galleries, museums, schools and other mostly nonprofit groups) determine what exhibitions are placed in these areas. Whenever possible, exhibitions that have been created at one of Arizona’s entities, and that are appropriate for an airport setting, are brought to the airport.

In addition, themed fine-art exhibitions are created specifically for the airport audience. Artwork is sought by contacting groups and individuals directly (often from our continually expanding database), and by accessing the resources of such groups as:

These groups showcase artists’ work and contain calls for entries. We regularly use these groups (and others) to find art for exhibitions.

The Phoenix Airport Museum does not keep slides on file, but we do scan slides and place other information in our files for consideration when determining exhibitions. Please, send slides (or digital images), resumes and other materials to:

Phoenix Airport Museum
Phoenix Aviation Department, T3/L3
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
3400 Sky Harbor Boulevard
Phoenix, Arizona 85034-4403

or send by e-mail to jeri.walker@phoenix.gov

Photography: Because we have so many requests for photographic exhibitions, we limit the few one-person shows we do have to photographers whose work has been published. Even with this limitation, we receive more requests than we can accommodate. However, individual photographs are considered for group exhibitions that are open to all media.

Public Art
A Phoenix ordinance authorizes up to one percent of construction monies to be spent for art commissions and purchases. The process of purchasing artwork for Phoenix airports is administered by the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture (POAC) in collaboration with the Phoenix Airport Museum. To apply for airport public-art projects, contact the POAC at 602/262-4637, or www.ci.phoenix.az.us/ARTS.

Student-Art Guidelines

The Phoenix Airport Museum provides exhibitions throughout the Phoenix airport system to showcase Arizona’s unique artistic and cultural heritage. Exhibitions are located in more than 25 display areas within six buildings at three airports. Most exhibitions are from six to eight months. Exhibitions may include student artwork, or may be solely student artwork.

Student-Originated Projects
Priority consideration is given to projects that show an unusual depth of learning by students. We seek originality that involves an entire class or program. We want to see thought and meaning behind the art that makes it more of a unified exhibition with a story. The story needs a beginning, middle and end. For example, students may study the art of a culture and then model the design styles of that culture to interpret their own lives. This type of project generally incorporates skills beyond art such as poetry, history or storytelling.

Themed Exhibitions
Themed fine-art exhibitions are created specifically for the airport audience and may include student art created under adult supervision. Artwork is sought by contacting schools and groups (i.e., Boys and Girls Clubs) directly to either borrow art that has already been created, or to request that art be made with a particular theme in mind. Artwork loans are generally from six to eight months. In some instances, 2-D work may be color copied by us for display so that originals may be returned to students.

Art Criteria

If your student group has a project, or would like to participate in a themed exhibition, please contact marilyn.demoss@phoenix.gov with the following information:

If you have examples (or photos) of past projects, that also would be helpful. Please, be aware that it may take some time before we are able to include your student group in an exhibition. While we hope to include one to two groups per year, even at this rate it will take some time before we are able to include all groups interested in displaying work at the airport.