Year 1989 (1989) Created 1989 | Subject Flying people Owner Eugene Airport | |
 | ||
Artist David Joyce (1946-2003) Type Photographic sculpture installation Medium Cut-out photographs on masonite Dimensions 180 cm × 7,200 cm (6 feet × 235 feet) | ||
Flight patterns color hd
Flight Patterns, also known informally as Flying People, is a seven-panel photographic sculpture installation by David Joyce, designed to be installed in 1989 in Concourse A at the Eugene Airport in the U.S. state of Oregon. During airport construction in 2015–2016, it was moved to Lane Community College. The airport renovations were completed by early January 2017, but the airport management is studying how public art will be displayed, and has not decided yet whether Flight Patterns will be reinstalled.
Contents
Description
Flight Patterns consists of approximately 130 black-and-white photographic cutouts of people, whimsically posed as if they were flying, on seven mural panels originally installed on the walls of Concourse A at Eugene Airport.
Popular Photography described the subjects as "People with extended arms, carrying such items as briefcases, blueprints, teddy bears, or a tray of wine and pastry. People wearing business clothes or jogging outfits or nothing at all (discreetly covered by a fluffy cloud)….people expressing the exhilaration of flying."
Artist David Joyce explained, "I thought, 'Wow, what if you could just hold out your arms and fly yourself? Superman! Mighty Mouse!'" The resulting photographic sculpture has been described as "one of the most beloved art installations in Lane County".
Among the people pictured in the mural is writer and performer Garrison Keillor, who was in Eugene for a show when the work was being created; his image was the only one of a non-local person used. Other notable people in the work include cartoonist Jan Eliot.
History
David Joyce received a US$15,000 commission in 1988 for an installation of his artwork as part of the remodeling of the airport. He posed his volunteer subjects in flying position on a padded mat, and photographed them with a 35 mm camera while he was standing on a ladder. He then used mural paper to create prints that were approximately two-thirds life-size.
In 2011 the 22-year-old installation was dismounted, refurbished and replaced following a repair to a leak in the airport's wall. The cost of refabrication was supported by 1% for Art funds and an auction of some of the original figures.
Flight Patterns has again been removed during the airport's planned expansion in 2015–2016, and is on display at the David Joyce Gallery, Building 19 on the campus of Lane Community College. The airport, in consultation with Joyce's widow Kacey Joyce, will consider whether to permanently remove the artwork and display it instead at the college.
Upon learning that it might not be re-installed at the Eugene Airport, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy said that the "flying people" are "iconic and part of our art history".
In early January 2017, the airport's passenger terminal renovations were completed, but airport management wants "to take a comprehensive look and see where public art can be placed". The airport had paid Lane Community College US$5000 to install the art in the David Joyce Gallery on campus, but the gallery cannot display all the images at once. Lane President Mary Spilde said, "We've loved having it, but now that the renovation is complete we will work with the airport on returning it."