Two airports, Halifax International (YHZ) and Lambert-St. Louis International (STL) will be the recipients of art pieces, one a mural and the other a sculpture.
Alan Syliboy’s mural “Spirits Flying” will be on display at YHZ as part of the celebration of the 2011 Canada Games. The mural can be seen in the arrivals area, above the international arrivals door. An animated short film, “Little Thunder,” will play on a variety of screens throughout the airport. Both can be seen for the next several weeks.
“Thousands of athletes and visitors will be passing through Halifax Stanfield this month to participate in the 2011 Canada Games,” says Tom Ruth, airport president and CEO. “Alan Syliboy’s art pieces will provide these passengers and visitors with an opportunity to experience Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq culture and traditions.”
Syliboy has participated in the cultural Olympiad at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. His “Little Thunder” film was also shown during the Olympics, as well as at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy; it also received best Animated Film at the 2010 First Peoples Festival in Montreal.
“This animated short, inspired by the Mi’kmaq legend “The Stone Canoe,” explores aboriginal humor,” says Syliboy. “It’s wonderful to have this film playing throughout Halifax Stanfield International Airport. Many visitors to Nova Scotia will now have the opportunity to follow Little Thunder as he reluctantly leaves his family and sets out on a cross-country canoe trip to become a man.”
In St. Louis, Mexican artist Leonardo Niemann is donating an original sculpture to the city to be shown at the airport. The St. Louis Airport Commission has approved the donation; now it goes to the mayor and the St. Louis Board of Public Service.
“Sensation de Vuelo,” meaning “Flying Sensation,” is a 10-foot high, polished steel structure will be the first major art donation to be received under the airport’s new Art and Culture Project, which launched in 2010. The location for the piece will be determined pending a review by the airport’s Art Advisory Committee. The airport has also commissioned nine local artists to create art glass screens in Concourses A and C, to be installed later this year.
“I am extremely honored that the city of St. Louis has accepted this present of Mexico,” says Niemann. “‘Sensation de Vuelo’ symbolizes the friendship that exists between the peoples of my country and St. Louis, and the dreams and great achievements we are called to accomplish together.”
