Philadelphia is well-known for the hundreds of painted murals that define its neighborhoods as well as the legion of open-air sculptures erected at landmarks throughout the city – monuments as diverse as Alexander Calder’s Art Deco Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Circle and Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture at John F. Kennedy Plaza.
Not surprisingly, the city has already begun enhancing its rich public art profile with projects designed to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and the FIFA World Cup – for example, the popular “Bells Across PA” initiative. That also includes a number of aesthetic innovations at Philadelphia International Airport, a key entry point for the countless visitors anticipated ahead of Sesquicentennial and World Cup events planned for the area. Among the new displays announced by PHL officials, Serena Saunders’ “Up, Up and Away” mural in Terminal A-West, the 10-foot statue of Rocky Balboa that debuted in Terminal A-West last November and a variety of work by local artists on Terminal E’s façade.
Penn Valley artist Ava Blitz, a longtime instructor at Conshohocken Art League and, formerly, Whitemarsh Art Center, has probably considered the impact such transformations have on a given space more than most. Ornamental, yes. But at their best, much more. Blitz’s mosaic “Pink” has been a fixture at the airport for years – commissioned by the City of Philadelphia Public Art Program and located on an exterior wall by the restrooms in PHL’s Terminal B/C.
Blitz describes her work – composed of 98,080 vitreous glass tiles – as a “mosaic of digitally manipulated and abstracted landscape imagery” and hopes the cherry blossom scene it evokes “provides a moment of respite for travelers.”
“‘Pink’ is a glass tapestry derived from the natural world that offers a calm respite to stressed travelers,” she continues. “Figures seem to blend into the image, as if taking a walk in the woods. The narrative seen from afar dissolves into abstract, luminescent and beautifully tactile glass tiles up close. I’m happy to see folks invariably running their hands across the surface. Such a tactile appreciation of material would not be appropriate in a gallery setting.
“The audience at the airport is, of course, enormous in comparison to a gallery or even a museum exhibition, which I also love but in a very different way. This is very gratifying, especially with the (country’s) upcoming 250th anniversary and the World Cup. It’s exciting to have work in public spaces, seen by international visitors of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life. It’s my hope that it is appreciated by all, while creating a unique contemporary point of view…part of the airport’s inspiring collection, which, in itself, shows the wonderfully diverse vision of Philadelphia’s artists.”
Artist Ava Blitz with her mosaic creation, “Seasons.” (Photo by Doug Wechsler, courtesy Ava Blitz)
Blitz currently divides her time between studio work in sculpture, works on paper, digital photography and public art. Her commissions for the latter have run the gamut from installations in Tokyo to Philadelphia’s University City Science Center. Locally, she also has exhibited work at the Michener Art Museum, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Grounds for Sculpture and Allentown Art Museum. Blitz directed the Fine Art Department at Bryn Mawr College from 1986 to 1998 and now teaches Conshohocken Art League’s Independent Studies class.
With Sesquicentennial 250 events in Philadelphia and its suburban counties getting underway, she believes public art is “particularly apt in celebrating an anniversary of our democracy – art for the people.”
As for “Pink”…
“In my case, sharing a sense of place to people from so many different places is a delight,” Blitz says. “I feel that an appreciation of nature is universal, but each spirit of place is unique. One example of Philadelphia spirit is its amazing Fairmount Park, a wild Eden within an urban space, one of my inspirations that informed my design, which also creates a window to the natural world in an urban space.”