Artistic talent on display in airport employee art show

 

Looking out a giant window, low-hanging dark clouds decorate hilltops in the distance. The rain has ceased but has left a shiny, cleanliness on the black tarmac in its wake.

 

An airplane has begun to back out, but I'm distracted from watching it.

 

A colorful, abstract photograph has captured my attention. It appears to be moving, yet looks like a painting. When I get closer, it takes me a minute before I realize the photo features dozen of bright fish swimming in a river.

 

I take my pencil and jot down a star next to the photo's title on the sheet.

 

I then walk to the next item on my list of 124 recently hung art pieces in the depARTures gallery in the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

 

In December, I wrote an "Art in Unexpected Places" story on the airport's art gallery. It was then I learned about the airport's annual art show that features the work of its employees, from vendors to car rental employees and cargo loaders to airline front desk clerks, or their family members.

 

I was intrigued about what the show would feature, and even more so when the airport asked me to be one of three judges in its annual Employee Art Show.

 

The show is underwritten by the National Arts Program, a national organization that holds annual exhibits featuring visual artwork of employees and their family members in a variety of venues including airports, cities, hospitals and transit authorities.

 

The point: to showcase the artistic talent of everyday employees in a public display.

 

For more than an hour, I walk around the gallery with my mouth slightly hung open. I am in disbelief of the immense artistic talent I am experiencing from amateur, youth (12 years old and younger) and teen (13 to 18 years old) entries. The intermediate (those with some experience and beginning art students) and professional (serious art training or those employed in an art profession) artwork is well-done, creative and thoughtfully presented.

 

The exhibit features 80 artists' work displayed as a variety of stunning photography; works on paper, much of which is created by children; intricate watercolor and oil-based paintings; a sculpture created out of mechanical and engine parts; a handmade, elaborately-detailed journal; jewelry; crafts; mixed media pieces; and for the first time in the art show, two women's dresses designed and stitched by the artist.

 

After scoring the artists with my own system of star, star-plus-exclamation point, and star-double-exclamation point, I join Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority marketing coordinator Kim Matthews, who also curates the airport's galleries, at a dining table in the gallery with my two fellow judges, Lonnie Shodeen and Diane Favia, both former airport employees and employee art show winners.

 

Over dinner, we talk about our top selections in each category. We discuss the artists' creativity; time invested in art pieces; artistic level; methods of creating the art; and how the art made us feel and/or think.

 

It is a long, thoughtful process, but we whittled it down to the top three honors to artists and several honorable mentions in each category. The winners of each category will receive a cash prize, and there is also a cash award for the "Best of Show" that will be announced in an award ceremony and reception next week.

 

One thing resounds around the table during the judging: There is some seriously amazing artwork on display at the airport. And, it is artistic talent you wouldn't expect from your local TSA-agent, airport restaurant server or maintenance worker's child.