“The selection was approximately a year long,” said Public Art Director and Curator Alton Dulaney. “We started out by doing a general call for qualification. And this call was specifically for Texas artists. We really wanted to spend the money to support the local art community.”

Following the application process, panels were held by jurors and experts who interviewed the artists individually. Proposals from the artists were seen, reviewed, and gradually narrowed down to a handful of ideas for the pieces.

Final proposals have been completed for six of the 10 works, and artists have already begun creating. Installation for the new works should begin as early as February, and by the end of the summer, “nearly all” of the works should be completed, per Dulaney.

According to Dulaney, 59 million passengers were served by Bush Intercontinental Airport in 2019 alone, making for roughly one million-plus passengers a week who will now be seeing the artwork created by these individuals.

“It’s really amazing,” said Dulaney. “Personally, I’m an artist. I’ve been active in the community, and I understand the importance of this. These are our people. You can imagine the pride that these artists have in getting their work in this very important public art collection that will be seen by literally millions of passengers, including them, their friends and their families.”

Each artist is working independently on each of the 10 pieces. Five works will be displayed at Bush Intercontinental Airport, for each of its respective terminals. One will be going into the Houston Airport Systems Administrative Building, and the remaining four works will be displayed at Hobby Airport.

Dulaney says that pieces will also be created as part of Houston Airports’ IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program. Six pieces are planned to be created for the new Mickey Leland International Terminal D pier gates currently in development. For these pieces, Houston Airports are looking to Houston artists specifically.

“We thought it would really be cool to work with Houston artists and really establish that sense of place,” explained Dulaney. “And really show the diversity, talent, and everything that makes Houston, Houston.”