Artsy Dallas
Impressive mural at Dallas Love Field airport merits national public art award
The program to fill Dallas Love Field airport with all manner of public art has earned national recognition: Dixie Friend Gay's North Texas Sunrise has been named one of the year's top public art installations in the United States by Americans for the Arts, Public Art Year in Review.
Gay used around 300,000 pieces of mosaic and hand-glazed ceramic tiles to depict a sunrise breaking behind a field of Texas wildflowers, which represents the vanishing prairie landscape. It has a prominent position in the airport's main lobby.
Public Art Year in Review is compiled annually by Americans for the Arts Public Art Network. It is the only national program to specifically honor public art. Led by three highly regarded artists, the network highlighted 37 pieces across the country.
North Texas Sunrise is one of 15 pieces of public art on display at Love Field and one of 11 commissioned under the relatively new Love Field Art Program. All pieces are now in place; two final works were installed earlier this year.