Airports often set the tone for a whole vacation, creating ports of positive or negative experience for its visitors. In the case of Lynden Pindling International Airport, visitors are enveloped in the vibrancy of The Bahamas as soon as they step off their plane now that its arrivals section boasts six new pieces of art installations by Bahamian artists.
In Phase Two of the LPIA airport project which opened this past week, six permanent art installations in the arrivals terminal by five artists--Max Taylor, Jolyon Smith, Keisha Oliver, Melissa Maura and Imogene Walkine--join pieces from Phase One by John Cox, John Beadle, Nicole Sweeting and Sue Katz Lightbourn in the departures terminal, completed in May of last year.
Headed by the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), the three-phase airport project offered 13 spaces for art installations by Bahamian artists during a rigorous and highly competitive proposal process that saw approximately 100 applications from the local art community.
Featuring Bahamian art in the terminals, says President of NAD, Stewart Steeves, serves to instill a sense of place unique to the country using Bahamian culture, colors, and style.
"It's not just another institutional building--you realize when you've arrived to the airport that you've arrived somewhere different and unique, and art is an integral part of that along with colors, textures and architecture itself," says Steeves.
"The art has a somewhat broad appeal--it can be appreciated in passing or it lend itself to deep consideration and interpretation if they have a moment. It works both ways."
Working with an art committee, NAD was so committed to showcasing Bahamian art actively in their spaces that they designed specific elements of the airport with certain installations in mind--spaces that were only complete once the art pieces were in place.
In one piece, "Royal Welcome" by Keisha Oliver, a huge hand-carved sculpture of a Royal Bahamas traffic police offer directs visitors to the immigration hall, making the piece both functional and an impressive display of Bahamian artistic talent.
Overall, the permanent art installations sought by NAD from local artists highlight subjects of family, greetings, transportation, family, Junkanoo and the vibrancy of Bahamian culture. The chosen few reflect refreshing spins and interpretations of these subjects that can easily manifest in clichéd displays.
For example, in the arrivals lounge, Melissa Maura's "Mailboats", intricate and colorful mailboat-shaped paintings offer insight into Bahamian life and culture, while Max Taylor's gorgeous wooden sculpture "The Family" gives visitors and Bahamians returning home alike a grand send-off as the step outside of the airport.
"It's a big opportunity for artists to showcase what they can do and it's a chance for people to display their work and for visitors to see what The Bahamas has to offer," says Steeves.
"In developing the airport we contribute to retail merchants and restaurant operators, contractors, designers, architects, engineers, managers--we contribute in a lots of ways, and this is an opportunity to contribute to the artistic community."
Indeed the move is a huge boost for cultural tourism, placing Bahamian visual arts at the forefront of the minds of visitors. In a major partnership with the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, NAD also set aside twelve showcases for Bahamian art pieces throughout the airport that offer rotating displays of work among the more permanent major installations.
Changed every six months, the pieces by local artists are even on sale should visitors wish to purchase the work, and also offer information on the artists at the NAGB should visitors wish to visit them during their stay.
"We want people to see that we have Bahamian art and it is alive, vibrant and very colorful," says Ashley Knowles, Assistant Curator at the NAGB in charge of the display cases. "We want to give people a glimpse of what fine art is in The Bahamas and that we have it--we are more than sun, sand and sea."
For some artists making permanent installations in Phase Two, the opportunity fittingly afforded them the chance to form partnerships with international artists to make their pieces. For "Bahama Land", a massive relief mural of abstract ceramic elements conveying the spirit of Bahamian culture, Imogene Walkine worked with architectural ceramicists Peter and Xinia King practicing out of Florida.
Researching how she would make one of the largest intact ceramic pieces in her career, Walkine stumbled upon the work by the Kings whose specialized field of architectural ceramics means they bring artistic flair to building design. Walkine formed such a close relationship with them as she took two of their workshops in Florida that they traveled to The Bahamas to help her install her piece in the airport.
"They produce this work that is unbelievable," says Walkine. "They were the most giving people I've ever met in my life--they shared their techniques in how to make the architectural ceramic pieces they specialize in."
"They got about halfway up the wall and I looked at it and thought, I might actually be insane. I cannot believe I thought this is something that I could do--and I pulled it off," she laughs. "But I'm excited it's finished and I am ready to do another one. It's like that--you just want to do more and more and more."
The sculpture is a major achievement for Walkine, who is thrilled that her work celebrating the vibrancy of Junkanoo will be seen by locals and visitors alike because of NAD's vision.
"Art tells a story. It's a commentary, it expresses how we feel about Bahamian life and dreams, and no one is going to tell that like a Bahamian," she says. "People are coming to this country so we are giving them a preview of the mindset of the people and how proud we are to be from this country. Only we can do that--nobody else can do that for us."
Meanwhile, Jolyon Smith's stainless steel sculpture "Tree of Life" which sits in a fountain among a green space just outside the arrivals door was completed with his long time friend Marcos Cruz, a metal artist practicing in Florida.
Though the two had worked together on projects before, Cruz offered expertise about the material vital to the piece that Smith says provides a positive affirmation for community.
"As you look at Bahamian society, you see it's sort of chaotic and violent and we have a lot of problems, and I personally feel it comes from the breakdown of community--no one is holding anyone else accountable, no one is looking out for anybody, it's all selfishness," says Smith. "This concept of the tree speaks to that--not what it has become, but what it should be.
"So in that, it is this place where all these forms of life congregate --it's the mangrove tree, a safe haven, a protective place. It is sacred. It is special, it is spiritual.
"I give God all the credit for that--it came from the gut, and the Nassau Airport Development Company provided the opportunity for it manifest in this place."
Smith is the only artist in Phase Two who produced two installations. Many may recognize the second piece inside the Arrivals Terminal, "Bahamas Experience", from a public art installation Smith took part in two years ago with the Ministry of Tourism. In that project, he captured the unique qualities of fifteen major islands in the Bahamian archipelago with paintings on boards, which were on display for a short while downtown where the new straw market stands.
For the airport project, Smith saw the chance to revive the piece and develop it further, making them a collection of stamps with beautiful digital imagery collaging the spirit, history and qualities of fifteen islands. The piece will undoubtedly give visitors a taste of what The Bahamas has to offer, promoting tourism on the family islands.
For Smith, the chance to be one of the thirteen artists whose work will permanently form first impressions to thousands of visitors every year is humbling. Along with the state-of-the-art airport, the art installations will put LPIA on par with major travel hubs around the world that celebrate culture.
"I know when I travel it's to experience that place--that culture, the people, the food. I want to experience what makes them themselves," says Smith. "When I enter their port, that's like their front door. So when I arrive I want that experience to begin then.
"I think it's vital that visitors see that they are going to be engaged in a experience that is uniquely Bahamian and that's why it's important for artists to participate in things like this--it's the artists who enable others to experience things about Bahamian culture," he adds. "They are the ones singing the songs, painting the pictures, telling the stories of who we are."

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