Let Us Submerge Logan in a Sea of Art

Every Harvard student goes to Logan at some time during their college career, but now the airport offers something more interesting than biographies of Princess Diana. The Massport Authority has just completed a $1 billion modernization project, including a new elevated walkway between the terminals. The walkway is decorated with an extensive public art project called Atlantic Journey, created by Somerville artist and country singer Jane Goldman. It is the largest public art installation in New England and aims to beautify the airport while evoking "Boston." The project, set in the floor of the walkway between two moving sidewalks, depicts the ocean and marine animals in terrazzo, a hybridof concrete and mosaic. It moves from Terminal A to E, starting at each end with dark tones representing deep water, and grows more shallow, becoming a beach at the parking garage.

Goldman had several motivations for her design. She thought that airport public art should be calming and relaxing, since air travel is stressful for many people, and they don't need to have their nerves jarred by confrontational or unpleasant art. In addition, she thought that it should be acessible to as many people as possible, and also communicate something about the city it is located in-- "a sense of place so that the Logan experience feels uniquely like Boston, as opposed to, say Phoenix," she mused. The nautical theme does all of this well--it reflects the ocean that has been a vital part of the landscape and history of New England and the "city of the bean and the cod."

Terazzo is well adapted to Goldman's design. Terazzo is a concrete or epoxy liquid which serves as a base for colored marble or glass chips. She represents interesting wave effects with swirls of off-white chips that capture the foam and mobility of a breaking wave. She creates the animals by molding wire into outlines, placing them at the site and then pouring in different colors.

Goldman is most successful when she uses multiple shades of terrazzo to enliven her animals. One of the finest parts of the walkway is a school of fish, where she combines her interest in the rest of the structure, color and water effects and manipulation of scale. At a break in the automated walkway, she has a school of fish emerging as if from a cave, growing larger as they move away while turquoise currents of water swirl around them.

Although some of the animals are more interesting to look at than others, the entire project is a very clever idea and is quite well executed. It is lively and avoids monotony through the use of different animals and the changes in water depth as one moves along. It is a fine project of public art, beautifying the built environment and representing the community that commissioned it through accessible images and themes.