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Minnesota artists help restore their original work at MSP

A year-long collaboration between Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Airport Foundation MSP and Minnesota artists Mike and Abigail Mouw has resulted in the restoration of decade-old artwork commissioned for Terminal 1-Lindbergh’s light rail transfer station.
 
Since its inception, the Metro Transit Blue Line has become an important transportation artery for the Twin Cities, delivering tens of thousands of employees and travelers to the airport every year. The transfer station includes the platform as well as an atrium area that helps take visitors 70 feet up from the platform to Tram Level.
 
In 2005, when the station was being constructed, architects from HGA Minneapolis and from the Metropolitan Airports Commission designed the atrium to include commissioned artworks.
 
Mike Mouw, an international multimedia director, was chosen for the work, along with his wife Abigail - a nationally-known photographer and visual artist. Together they created rich, multi-layered images of Minnesota that combined natural elements with human forms and objects. 
 
The series, referred to as Human Connections to Natural Traditions: A Metaphorical Journey Through Minnesota’s Rich Traditions, featured 10 photo montages approximately three feet tall by five feet wide, backlit and mounted permanently as display windows.
 
But time and lack of experience in the care of the artwork left it looking weathered.
 
Last year the Airport Foundation MSP’s Arts and Culture Department decided it was time to find out how these now iconic pieces could be restored. Collaboration with the artists was key to the project’s success.
 
In the end, the light box gels were given new luster with new, stronger UV-resistant Rho inks, 3M translucent film, and laminates with an acrylic mount to prevent fading of dyes under the fluorescent lights.
 
An important aspect of conservation efforts is prevention, so a plan has been established to ensure regular inspections of the light boxes, periodic instruction for maintenance staff on handling the display, and change out of the films to prevent future damage.
 
The result is a much richer experience as well as the restoration of an important piece of MSP Airport history.

To learn more about MSP’s arts and culture programs, visit www.airportfoundation.org.