Travelers flying in or out of Terminal 2 at MSP Airport are able to enjoy a brand new exhibit, recently installed in the display case near gate H10.
The Friendship Committee is a multimedia exhibition of works created by Arizona-based artist Wesley Fawcett Creigh, who spent six weeks in Otter Tail County in 2018 as an artist in residence of the Hinge Arts Residency in Fergus Falls, MN. Hinge Arts is a program of Springboard for the Arts.
Creigh’s exhibition includes felt paintings — paintings made with felt fabric rather than paint — as well as video animations, audio and video interviews. The exhibit will occupy the entire display case near gate H10, measuring 18 feet wide by nearly 6 feet in height.
Springboard houses its artists-in-residence in apartments on the Historic Kirkbride Campus in Fergus Falls and provides them with studio space and resources to carry out community projects. Wesley’s work focused on telling and contextualizing the experiences of Pelican Rapids and Fergus Falls residents.
The initial phase involved collecting audio interviews with residents that touched on many topics, including age, culture, religion, race, and gender, centering these conversations around topics of “home” and “belonging”. The research yielded a series of two-dimensional “felt paintings” and multi-media installations featuring video and audio. One such installation, created by ESL students from the Pelican Rapids High School, examines the intersections of “identity” and “place”. “Model Home”, a collaborative installation by members of “A Place to Belong” social club in Fergus Falls, is the culmination in a series of workshops Creigh led at the club during the winter of 2018. It features, in the background, an animated video crafted entirely with artwork produced by the club’s members and, in the foreground, a sculpture created by group.
“We’re proud to host this unique, inspiring exhibition at MSP Airport,” said Ben Owen, Director, Arts@MSP. “Wesley’s work shows incredible talent and attention to detail.”
Timing of the exhibit coincides with the 2019 Alliance of Artists Communities Conference, being held in St. Paul later this month. Springboard will host a panel discussion at the conference about Hinge Arts, how arts organizations create space for dialogue, and building rural-urban solidarity. The exhibit will be on display at Terminal 2 through October, 2020.
Arts@MSP is a program of Airport Foundation MSP, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the experience and exceeding the expectations of travelers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Airport Foundation MSP partners with the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to bring artistic and cultural events to MSP, including live music, as well as exhibits featuring regional artists and commissioned art installations.
See the press release: http://airportfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NR-T2-Exhibit-October-2019-1.pdf
Image courtesy of Sam Fuentes, Arts@MSP.
