Public Art Seen At The Gerald R. Ford International Airport In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Part I

   The Gerald R. Ford International Airport located 13 miles southeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan is a modest sized complex (it occupies an area a little larger than 4.5 square miles, which makes it less than a tenth the size of the western hemisphere's largest airport, Denver International).

   Being modest in size has not, however, placed any limitations on the capacity of the airport to display a large and varied selection of public art, and most of the art on display is readily accessible, and by that I mean one does not need a working knowledge of 20th century postmodern deconstructivism to understand or appreciate what is on display.

   For your enjoyment, here (and on a second post) are a few of the pieces in the Airport's collection. 

Cast Resin Model of a Boeing 727 hand painted by Alexander Calder and named Flying Colors of the United States. This was then duplicated on a Braniff Airlines Boeing 727 in commemoration of the American bicentennial in 1976

Model of Alexander Calder's La Grande Vitesse (the large finished sculpture is in the plaza in front of Grand Rapids city hall)