Portfolio > TVC Airport: Windows to Wonder

As part of the "Windows to Wonder" exhibition in the terminal of the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan - I completed two acrylic paintings on plywood panels fabricated by Justin Shull. The panels are designed to evoke the shape of airplane windows and give viewers the sense of looking in or out of these portals in the sky.

I've chosen to explore the ways in which flight shifts our perception and experience of nature by disrupting our normal vantage points. Much of our experience of nature is mediated by our relationship to maps (or Google Maps) and our understanding of the cardinal directions. Flying in a plane removes the constraints of viewing things from only one perspective. In both of these paintings, the top of the painting is not north. Furthermore, flight changes the scale of the objects that we see (trees, roads, houses, fields) and allows us to see the world in a new and different way. I am drawn to the abstract shapes and geometries that emerge when seen from above and how our built environments contrast with natural landforms. In this way, I reflect on the many ways that choices that we make in our everyday lives shape how the world around us looks.

For me, the experience of flight always carries a sense of wonder and possibility. I will always trade you for a window seat if you find yourself next to me on a plane.

In preparation for each painting, I completed two study paintings on wood, which are also available to view and purchase below. Direct inquiries to me via email at info@nikburkhart.com