(airplane engine roars)
♪♪
-...to Fairbanks, please make your way to...
-Public art is important for so many reasons.
Seeing things that are made by another person
that didn't exist before --
it's something that's just inherently human.
There's something in us
that reminds us of our kind of wonder.
♪♪
My name is Tommy Gregory.
I'm the Senior Manager and Curator
for the Port of Seattle's Public Art Program.
I was born in Houston, Texas.
I went to undergraduate at the University of Houston.
I was really lucky to have a diverse group of art specialists
as instructors who would introduce me to public art.
One of them, notably, Luis Jiménez,
who was infamous for doing the Denver Mustang.
I was also his studio assistant in Hondo, New Mexico,
and I worked on that infamous Mustang.
So that was my intro to knowing that public art could be a job.
And that led me to going into grad school for sculpture,
because I wanted to be a public artist.
I was the Houston Airport's first curator.
Seattle, you know, graciously brought me over from Houston.
I landed in November of 2018,
started work the next morning and haven't stopped since,
[Chuckles] to be honest.
♪♪
We're in the Checkpoint 1 zone right now.
Day two of installation.
We selected 22 works of art integrated into a dividing wall.
Predominantly Pacific Northwest artists.
Blown glass, sculpted steel, carved wood.
A little something for everybody.
I have a vision that I think is...
very much an homage to how it started.
I think that the collection started in a smart way
with the Nevelson and the Rauschenberg and the Stella,
these major heavy-hitters
that are nationally and internationally known
mixed in with very prominent Pacific Northwest artists
like James Washington Jr. and Francis Celentano.
This is a collection that started very pure.
They got work that looked like art.
It didn't look like public art.
They let artists be artists.
[ Man speaking indistinctly over PA ]
We are at -- near Gate A11
and the A gates,
real close to the iconic Cappy Thompson.
The artist we're looking at is Dan Friday.
Dan is extremely well known in the Pacific Northwest.
A strong indigenous artist
who is predominantly a glassblower.
This is one of his rare neon pieces.
We're walking by a relocated Robert Rauschenberg piece,
and then we're coming up on Peter Shelton,
who has one of the biggest site-specific installations
in the airport's collection.
These are bronze, and these are resin elements above us.
And somebody who grew up in the Pacific Northwest,
John Geise.
"Infinity Column."
And it was commissioned in 1973.
So this piece has been lit since the '70s.
These shapes are influenced by the mountains
of the Pacific Northwest.
"York Factory A" from 1972 by Frank Stella.
It's noticed worldwide,
so that's a statement piece that Seattle's like,
"Look what we put into an airport."
I don't think there's another airport in the country
that has a Frank Stella painting of that scale
hanging prominently on display for all to see.
I looked at my job as, um,
come in and recognize what was here before
and then try to maintain or elevate that.
I try to start out opportunities for artists
with my team that I have here at the airport.
Grace Flott, Andy Arkley...
That means creating more opportunities for artists
to be in this legacy that has started since the '70s,
but also to just raise the bar.
Now the de la Torres were selected for this restroom.
They are the first Chicano artists in the collection.
There's handblown glass elements.
It's called a lenticular. It has two images in one.
So as you move, it animates the image.
What can we do that no other airport in the country
or the world is doing?
I think that the public feels it.
The people who come in here,
they see things that, you know, they might see in a museum,
or they might see in a gallery.
Everybody looks at it and they see
a standard that's set here.
-We literally are one of the largest
airport art programs in the US.
We're getting a lot of inquiries from airports around the world
and in the US about our program.
-There's not an artist I've worked with
in my six and a half years here
who hasn't just thrown the kitchen sink of their energy
and their ideas
at trying to succeed in being a part
of this kind of storied collection.
And you can always tell when somebody likes it,
because there's already fingerprints all over it.
I feel like I'm a good conduit
between the artist that we're contracted with.
I'm also somebody who has an ongoing
and a constant studio practice.
I'd say my three favorite mediums right now would be, um,
neon, bronze, and then the occasional printmaking.
-We're very fortunate to have him.
He's a very, very high caliber artist.
He's not someone we just assigned to the program
and said, "You're responsible for art,"
but he is a professional artist himself
and a wonderful curator for the program.
-I'm cutting them all to a similar dimension
and...just seeing how they work on a pattern
that will eventually be
approximately four foot in diameter,
a kind of nurse log.
It's Yale Wolf Studio here in Seattle.
He's kind enough to let me bend a few things with him.
I try to hit all of the studios
and all of the open -- uh, gallery openings.
Keeping a finger on the pulse, basically,
of what artists are doing in this town.
[ Bell jingles ]
Excited about these shows.
Three in one night,
25 artists from all over Seattle.
For the most part, light-based artists and, um,
you know, bringing light.
This is my neighborhood.
Probably the best place I've ever lived.
♪♪
There is a vibrant art community here that is --
I think it just needs to be, like, you know,
brought up a little bit, so I take that --
That's my responsibility in my position
is to get to know the community,
to be a part of it.
-...at our community exhibit.
It's a show that's curated by Tommy Gregory.
-Is Tommy here? -[ Cheers and applause ]
-Where's Tommy? Thank you, Tommy.
-Sorry, everybody. One more thing.
If you are down to hit,
there's two more shows in Columbia City.
I want to always represent my position here
as somebody who is going to generate opportunities
to elevate the local and regional artists.
So please join us, follow Question Mark Guy.
Enjoy the show.
[ Applause ]
I work with as many, um,
collaborative teams and fabricators
just to learn.
I can't hear you! -[ Cheers and applause ]
Make some noise if you love Rainier Arts Center!
[ Cheers and applause ]
I think me being an artist
has allowed me the behind-the-scenes look
into those -- those folks
who've been waiting for this opportunity for years.
We've got artists who are kind of
hometown heroes in a way.
My hope is when people come to the airport
that it's not something they could ignore.
Drawing to painting, to ceramics, to carved wood.
I think that we've been so intentional
with where we put things
that people are going to feel the art in this airport.
It's going to be undeniable.
Hopefully it makes them see the world
a little bit differently.
It should just make you feel not alone.
You're a human being, and you're traveling through
a visually cultural, strong destination.
♪♪
-Witness Tommy's curatorial eyes throughout Sea-Tac Airport
and follow his personal art journey
at Tommygregory.com.