Take an Early Stroll Through the Public Art That Will Decorate New Love Field Airport

We're still waiting to see with which concessionaires the city will fill a Distinctively Dallas Love Field, which is in the process of being modernized from now till 2014ish. But this afternoon, the council's newly resurrected Arts, Culture & Libraries Committee will get a sneak peek at the $3.284 million worth of pubic art set to decorate 11 sites scattered throughout the airport upon the occasion of its construction completion.

First, fret not: The original 1958 world map terrazzo floor and Waldine Tauch's The Texas Ranger of 1960 statue, currently keeping watch at the Frontiers of Flight, will remain. But most everything else will be brand-new -- beginning with artist Dixie Friend Gay's North Texas Sunrise, a wall of ceramic tiles that'll be part of the new ticket hall-lobby set to formally open November 1, 2012. Also first on the to-do list: local artist Sherry Owens's nine-foot-tall bronze trees that'll be planted in the courtyard garden off the main lobby, otherwise known as the secret smoking porch.

Not all the pieces have yet been approved by the Office of Cultural Affairs. A few have the potential to impress, like those suspended sculptural installations made of brass beads and steel chains; one or two look a little grade-Z Gallerie in their conceptual forms. One could-be highlight is Dallas native Tom Orr's Intersected Passage, seen above and again in the briefing, which is "inspired by the 1950s era entrance sign on Mockingbird." Also: Look at the fine print in some of the terminal layouts, and you'll also see a heretofore overlooked (by us, anyway) addition to the modernization plans: "potential performance area," and not just one.