Now and then, a real opportunity comes by, and you just have to grab it. About two years ago, Michael Durr (photoPXL Video producer) approached me and asked if I’d like to do an exhibit on Antarctica at the Indianapolis International Airport. The exhibit would be up for several months.
Wow, I’d have to be a fool to say no.
Indianapolis is a growing art hub. There are many fine artists, photographers, galleries, museums, and, of course, the Indianapolis Arts Center, where I am an Artist in residence. One of the busiest gallery areas is managed by the Indianapolis Art Council and is at the Indianapolis Airport, where thousands of people pass through each day.
There are art display cases in each of the two gate areas, but the biggest cases are in the main atrium hall, where the Arts Council asked Michael and me to do our display.
In 2020, Michael and I returned from Antarctica a week before the world closed down because of the pandemic. Michael had a memorable trip to Antarctica and made a wonderful video about it. You can view Antarctica 2020 – A photoPXL and Rockhopper Workshop HERE.
After signing a few papers, the Arts Council gave us the date for our exhibit, and the planning process began. Michael and I took different approaches to our individual displays.
As you leave, the ticketing area to enter the main atrium hall at the airport, and as you arrive to depart and get your bags at baggage claim, you pass by our exhibit areas on either side of the main cross-over exit and entrance.
Since Michael made only one trip to Antarctica, he decided to take three of his images and make four-foot by six-foot images. He would then display some smaller images in the secondary case and beckon out the case with miscellaneous Antarctica-themed pieces.
I took a slightly different approach to my space. Having traveled to Antarctica more than twenty times and having been married there, I had thousands of images to choose from. I wanted to display a variety of some of my best images and images that truly defined Antarctica.
I asked the Art Council for a mock-up of the booth, and lucky for me, they had the schematics, which they sent as a PDF. I then scaled the PDF so one inch would equal one foot and made a large print of both cases that would serve as a way to lay out images to scale.
I then proceeded to go through all my images, and with the help of my wife Debra, we chose a number of our favorites. I then made some 4×6-inch prints of these favorites, and we started to fine-tune the final section of pieces and how they would be sequenced in the display.
If you are a Silver or Gold member, you can click on an image to see it larger
Kevin’s Images Used in The Exhibit
Michael Durr’s Images Use In The Exhibit
Then we proceeded to lay them out in what looked like a good and pleasing layout. I then scaled the images and using Epson Print Layout sized the images to scale and printed them on the Epson 8550. I trimmed the prints and laid the images on the scaled display, as shown below.
As you can see from the image, we now have sizes and spacing for these images in both cases. It was now time to print these images. I have all the gear to make prints, but we needed to print these and mount them on light foam core board so they could be mounted easily inside the display cases.
We found a company in Indy that could do this for us. Tactive is a graphic house with all the capabilities to handle our job. Michael and I each had our images made and mounted there. The Art Council gave a small budget for this endeavor, and we were about $200.00 over the budget to accomplish the production for the display.
Tactive also handles the graphics, which would be mounted on the glass of the display cases. These had to be made to specific specs that the Art Council had.
I provided a color-corrected match print for my prints to Tactive, and they did a great job matching.
Time To Set It Up
On Sunday, July 14, 2024, it was time to transport everything to the airport and set up the display. Michael. my wife Debra and myself, along with a team from the Art Council, converged on the airport and spent several hours putting the exhibit up.
To set up each display case, there was lots to do. Images had to be mounted to the back walls. Using my layout, we had real good starting points for the images. The glass for the seas had to be cleaned inside and out. Graphics had to be applied, and lighting in each case had to be adjusted.
After a few hours, we finished and were very happy with the look of the exhibit. It will stay up through the middle of November. If you are passing through the Indianapolis International Airport, please take a moment to look at our work.
After we take the show down, we are looking for other locations to move it to. Stay tuned for an update on where the exhibit will go next.
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