Ramp Beautification
Laura Spencer
Like hotels and restaurants, airports have “back of house” areas designed for utility, where decorative visual elements are not a priority. St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) proves that even concrete ramp areas laden with industrial ground support equipment don’t have to be aesthetic dead zones.
At PIE, two vibrant murals welcome arriving passengers to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Airport leaders chose to commission artwork for the once-dull airside area because most of PIE’s traffic is ground loaded, so passengers regularly walk right through what airports typically consider a back of house area.
Guests at PIE used to pass plain gray walls to board and deplane on the tarmac. Now, they see a panoply of Florida color, flora and pollinators painted by local artists Laura Spencer and Leo Gomez. Spencer goes by the moniker “Miss Crit” as a nod to the critters she includes in her pieces. Gomez incorporated the airport motto, Go Easy, and also convinced the airport to allow him to extend the mural area around the corner, creating even more “front of house” appeal for passengers and airport staff alike.
Leo Gomez
Gomez and Spencer were selected from 20 local muralists who applied for the project, and each created separate portions of the single, continuous mural. Unbeknownst to the selection committee, the artists were already good friends, which undoubtedly made collaborating on the project easier than if they were strangers.
The airside murals debuted last year, and have since inspired more inside the terminal. There are two large vertical pieces framing the main exit doors near Baggage Claim, and another at the District Pub, a pre-security concession based on the local Warehouse District, which is filled with murals and other public art. St. Petersburg also hosts SHINE, an annual mural festival of international acclaim.
“Our area is one of the mural capitals of the world,” shares PIE Public Relations Director Michele Routh. “It just makes sense for our airport to reflect that.”
