Archive: Around Town

For most people the airport is the gateway to a destination.  But right now the Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport itself is a destination for art lovers.  Student work from Lansing High School and TST BOCES are on display in the terminal.  The exhibit went on display this month and will continue through the end of March

"It's a great venue, because we're really exposing our students and our community to people from all over the world," says TST BOCES art teacher Katrina Binkewicz.  "And it's exciting for the kids.  With technology as it is I can take pictures of the show and put it on a big screen, and it's like visiting the art gallery... their art gallery, as well as other art galleries around the country as part of their curriculum."


The work came out of assignments given to fourth through 12th grade Visual Arts 1 and 2 students on the BOCES side, and from three Lansing High School units in Art 2 that encompass perspective, color inspired by contemporary issues, and a variety of techniques.

"The majority of the pieces on view were in response to a painting assignment on perspective, in which students needed to create a mood," says Lansing High School art teacher Clarissa Plank.  "There are also pieces where students chose from a variety of techniques and improved their skills with one of them.  The final assignment represented is a color mixing assignment, where students took inspiration from a contemporary issue."


Binkewicz included works from three projects.  Students were challenged to create several pieces that were a variation on a single theme, each piece having slight variations from the last.  Younger students learned brush and India ink techniques.

"A student was interested in yin and yang, and I often try to take a student's interest and wrap the curriculum into it because you get a lot more engagement that way," Binkewicz says.  "I printed a lot of large yin and yangs and asked them to think about their own theme and how it might fit in the theme of the positive and negative space.  One of the kids who is interested in fishing drew fish in the large white area, and some eggs or a crab in the little white moon part.  One person had an Egyptian theme.  They're filling the white space in the large curve, then they're filling the little white dot with something that relates to the larger space."

Creating the work is only the first task for professional artists, who must also learn to prepare the work for display.  Exhibiting at the airport adds this important dimension for young artists, and both teachers say their students are excited to have their work on display in this public venue.

"They've gotten really excited," Binkewicz says.  "When I first started as an art teacher it took a lot of effort to pry their art out of their hands at the end of their class.  They wanted to take it right home.  Since I've been at BOCES I've made a big effort to have them have double hanging strips around the whole cafeteria.  So they know when they're done with their work -- 95% of the time I can get them to volunteer to help me hand it up in the public space in the cafeteria.  Once you get their art work up on the wall, it's kind of an equalizing space, so they see that they rate next to everybody -- that everybody has different abilities and handicaps, and it's all cool art.  It looks great together, and they're proud of it.  They're proud when it goes up in the school and they're proud when it goes up at the airport."


Feedback has been quite positive both on the work itself and the fact that it is being exhibited at the airport.  Binkewicz notes that the first half hour of free parking at the airport affords plenty of time for parents and friends to view the exhibit, and it provides something unique for passengers waiting to board their planes.

Airport Terminal Services Coordinator Jim Strehle books various local exhibits throughout the year.  The current exhibit marks the fourth year Binkewicz's students have shown their work at the airport, and the second year for Plank's students.

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