Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s 4th Annual National Arts Program® Exhibit
Coordinator Comments by David Vogt, Airport Art Program Manager:
“To promote our 4th NAP exhibit the Airport Art Program once again attended departmental and division staff meetings throughout the airport to share information about the exhibit and enlist their support to spread the word among their employees. Among the key groups that were targeted included Airline Station Managers, Concessionaires, Housekeeping, Customer Service, Ground Transportation and Department of Aviation. Additionally, large floor-standing sign boards with information about the exhibit were placed throughout the airport at key locations where employees frequently pass.
The overall quality of the work this year was strong which was evident by quite a number of exhibitors selling their work to employees and passengers. This is the second year in a row that we fielded approximately 20-25 purchase inquiries and referred them to the appropriate artists. In addition to these referrals the Airport Art Program decided to implement an office art program for Department of Aviation employees. What better way to beautify employee’s offices than with employee artwork from the National Arts Program® exhibits? Fourteen artworks by twelve artists costing approximately $10,000 were purchased from this year’s exhibit to kick start the office art program. The Airport Art Program plans to continue this program by acquiring artworks from each NAP show and thereby grow the collection over the years. The artists whose work we are acquiring include Ayodeji Adekeye, Enyo Dackey, Minh Doan, Ian Johnson, Kelvin Leak, Kenneth Mann, Michael Mullins, DeAllous Smith, Valerie Ralph, Brent Smart, Aleksandrs Willoughby and Kay Hall. Once distributed to employee’s offices the artworks will be identified with plaques that lists the artist and artwork information as well as identifies the specific National Arts Program® exhibit that it came from. The Airport Art Program purchased art kits again this year for each of the Youth and Teen participants. The Youth kits included a drawing and watercolor pad, colored pencils, pastels, paints and brushes all contained in a very nice wooden carrying case while the Teen participants were given a more professional drawing kit.
The awards ceremony and reception were held in the airport’s Atrium on Wednesday, May 16 from 6-10:00 p.m. Approximately 150 artists and family members attended and celebrated the award winners as well as all participating artists. Aviation Deputy General Manager and Chief Financial Officer Greg Richardson announced the winners and handed out the award envelopes and a congratulatory letter and certificate. The Department of Aviation hired a photographer to document the evening including taking as many photographs of the artists and their artwork as was possible. Following the awards ceremony guests enjoyed a wonderful meal catered by Papi’s Cuban Restaurant. Additionally, new to this year’s reception we hired a local vendor who specializes in creating custom bags of gourmet candy. Each guest was given a bag of candy to take home with them at the end of the evening. This proved to be very popular among the youth as well as the adults. After enjoying the food, guests were then escorted to the Gallery T Display Cases to view the exhibition. The Department of Aviation Security Division authorized the use of Gate Passes for all the tour participants, so they could proceed through the Security Checkpoint. Artists were very excited to view their artwork, enjoy the work of the other artists and make connections.”