Have you seen the fabulous collection of art at the MSP airport? If so, you might be wondering how they chose the artwork that appears in many unique contexts, from the concourses to the rest rooms, and even projections at the baggage carousel. The program is called Arts@MSP. They use an Artist Roster system to pre-qualify artists for future opportunities at MSP.
When public art commissions become available, Arts@MSP staff present the applicants to a selection panel. The candidates are invited to interview or to submit a proposal. In some cases, Arts@MSP staff will contact roster artists for a project prior to being presented to a selection panel.
The Artist Roster is a juried pool of prequalified emerging, mid-career and established artists who can create artwork for various settings at MSP. Whether you create large public artworks, ceramic art, multimedia or two-dimensional artworks, it makes good sense to get on their roster.
How do you get on their roster, you ask? You apply using submittable.com, where they ask for 5 pieces of information. If you have applied to any public art commission in the past, you’ll recognize these requests: artist statement, work samples, work sample list, a bio/resume & three references.
Project budgets for roster-based selections will vary, depending upon project complexity. Contract awards above $175,000 are subject to the approval of the MAC board of directors (Metropolitan Airports Commission). These opportunities are open to professional artists residing in the United States, however, regional talent is preferred. Artists must be at least 18 years of age to apply. Students are not eligible.
To learn more about Arts@MSP go to their website here. To apply to be on their roster click here.
Below are a few examples of the many commissions and exhibits you will find at the MSP airport.
The Aurora by Jen Lewin
Years in the making, this dazzling centerpiece of a terminal transformation gives travelers and visitors to the Airport an ever-changing Minnesota-inspired light show.
This mosaic is a collage of viewpoints from Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. To experience Lake Superior is to experience the elements and forces of nature in pure form.
Manifest’o by Jonathan Thunder at MSP Terminal 1, B Tunnel Projection Gallery
Manifest’o is a series of animated vignettes based upon the Ojibwe people’s narratives about this region of the continent; narratives that exist across time and space. Their persistence over time is purposeful as they help invoke an understanding of the water, the land, and the deep sky.
It’s not just large sculptural commissions, Arts@MSP curates exhibits like Self Portrait with Ice Cream and Candy by Mary Jane Mansfield.
Self Portrait with Ice Cream and Candy by Mary Jane Mansfield
This exhibit is outside Airport Director’s Office – Mary Jane Mansfield is an Icelandic-American artist, mother, and public art manager living and working in the Twin Cities. Her world is a mix of whimsical, lighthearted, and sometimes serious exploration that reflects on family, life, love, desire, and dreams.
Between 2018 and 2020, Steve Ozone’s photographs were translated onto three-story panels and installed on the East face of the Silver Ramp, visible from the skyway between C and G Concourses at Terminal 1.
Interrupted Landscapes of the Incomer by Steve Ozone.
Each photo is created with holes punched into metal sheets using a technique much like the dot patterns from which newspaper photographs are made. When the project was first brought to his attention, Ozone’s initial plan was to use photos of flowers from one of his photo art studies. When Arts@MSP Director Ben Owen asked to see his other work, however, he was given carte blanche to consider new subjects and he looked to his immigrant portrait series inspired by his own family’s experience.
Learn much more about these and many more Arts@MSP artists here.
Article and photos by Remo Campopiano