{"id":25286,"date":"2024-10-18T21:03:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T03:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-airport-issues-call-to-artists-across-the-four-corners\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:14:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:14:04","slug":"durango-airport-issues-call-to-artists-across-the-four-corners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-airport-issues-call-to-artists-across-the-four-corners\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango airport issues call to artists across the Four Corners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Emily
Emily Lashbrooke, with Durango-La Plata County Airport, speaks to about 50 people gathered Tuesday during a groundbreaking ceremony for the beginning of the airport\u2019s Phase 1A construction project. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango-La Plata County Airport launched its first formal artistic venture on Friday with a call to artists across the Four Corners.<\/p>\n

DRO is seeking proposals for cultural murals and installations to be displayed in three spaces within the airport\u2019s new baggage claim area during the first phase of its terminal expansion project. The baggage claim area is projected to open to the public in late spring or early summer of 2025.<\/p>\n

The call to artists is an expansive invitation to artists of the Four Corners, including Southwest Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, although only three individuals or creative groups will ultimately be selected.<\/p>\n

DRO Aviation Director Tony Vicari said the airport is working with the Durango Creative District to create a selection committee to choose the art pieces to be displayed. The committee will likely include a representative from DRO, the creative district, the city of Durango, La Plata County and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be a very easy job for a selection committee just because I\u2019m hoping we get a lot of really interesting and cool proposals through the process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a tough selection to narrow it down to just three.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aim is to find art pieces that best represent and resonate with the \u201coverall cultural vibrancy\u201d of Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners, including neighboring states served by DRO, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to reflect the service area of the airport, and that\u2019s definitely Southwest Colorado, but also the wider Four Corners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Durango-La
Durango-La Plata County Airport is working with the Durango Creative District to form a selection committee that will choose art proposals for murals, paintings and sculptures to be displayed in the airport\u2019s baggage claim area. Grants from Durango Creative District and Durango Creates! have contributed to the cost of the murals such as Durango artist Jenn Rawling, who created \u201cLove Letters\u201d on the side of a building in the 1000 block of Main Avenue in 2022. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Murals, paintings, a suspended sculpture<\/div>\n

DRO is requesting proposals for murals, paintings, wall-mounted installations and one sculpture or 3D installation suspended from the ceiling that represent \u201cunique geographic, environmental, or cultural aspects of the region,\u201d according to the call to artists.<\/p>\n

He said while Indigenous themes are not explicitly included in this call to artists, by nature of the criteria and the history of the Four Corners, he expects any proposals featuring Indigenous art or themes would be competitive.<\/p>\n

Relevance to regional history, the potential for community engagement, inclusivity and overall impact on the airport experience for users are all things that will be considered, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal artists and anyone who\u2019s able to depict some of the true culture and environment of our area is probably going to be very competitive in this process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vicari has spoken before about featuring Southern Ute art at the airport. At a joint meeting between the city and SUIT in November 2023, he said city and SUIT staff were collaborating to host art depicting Southern Ute culture and history in high visibility areas of the airport, where 500,000 travelers pass through annually.<\/p>\n

That project is still included in DRO\u2019s construction plans and moving forward, but it\u2019s separate from the call to artists in question, he said. The airport designated two locations, one in baggage claim and another post-TSA screening, where Southern Ute art will be displayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working with the Southern Ute tribe to allow them to effectively curate them in a manner that they would deem appropriate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Southern Ute displays could include a mix of art, artifacts, cultural displays, history or other things, he said.<\/p>\n

\"DRO
DRO is requesting proposals for murals, paintings, wall-mounted installations and one sculpture or 3D installation suspended from the ceiling that represent \u201cunique geographic, environmental, or cultural aspects of the region,\u201d according to a call to artists. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Submitting proposals<\/div>\n

Three locations within DRO\u2019s new baggage claim area where art is to be installed \u2013 named 4A, 4B and 5 \u2013 vary in size, scope and budget. Vicari said additional locations throughout the airport will be put to bid in a separate call to artists that will follow later in the first phase of the terminal expansion project.<\/p>\n

Budgets for locations 4A, 4B and 5 are $5,500, $25,000 and $32,000, respectively. The budgets include artist fees, material costs, installation costs and transportation costs.<\/p>\n

The call to artists was released Friday. It said artists have until 3 p.m. Nov. 6 to submit questions about the project\u2019s nature and scope. Artists then have until 3 p.m. Dec. 17 to submit their proposals.<\/p>\n

The airport will conduct interviews with artists if necessary the week of Jan. 6 or Jan. 13, approximately. Notices of award will be issued, again approximately, the week of Jan. 13 or Jan. 20, the call to artists said.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cultural pieces to be featured in new baggage claim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[363,246,2007,950,915,28,475],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts","tag-arts-general","tag-culture-general","tag-durango","tag-durango-la-plata-county-airport","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78872,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25286\/revisions\/78872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25286"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}