Client: San Francisco Arts Commission / San Francisco International Airport

Overview

Voyage draws on the language of maps, plans, weather patterns, and flight routes to depict an imaginary panoramic space in continuous flux. Britton's abstractions of physical locations give shape to psychological spaces and the emotional characteristics that constitute place. Fifteen panels form a panoramic sequence measuring 9 feet 5 inches high and 55 feet wide. The panels are laminated glass with ceramic glass melting colors, graphite, and lacquer paint.

Goals

The panels were visually integrated into the wall using a steel pony wall system. Conceptually, Britton integrated the history of the airport through research at the San Francisco Public Library's Daniel E. Koshland San Francisco History Center. She synthesized the research visually, extracting elements and symbols in order to create the piece, incorporating maps, plans of the airport, the bay, wind patterns, flight routes, and topography.

Process

The project was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Airport Commission for the San Francisco International Airport. Britton collaborated with Franz Mayer of Munich to translate a mixed media collage into laminated glass panels.