In 2019, Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) completed a $33 million makeover, replacing an outdated 20,000-square-foot concourse with a 65,000-square-foot modern terminal with six gates and four heated jet bridges to better serve the 400,000 passengers who arrive and depart each year. Still to come is a master plan that addresses the capacity and efficiency of its operations over the next quarter century. What is often left off the impressive list of traveler amenities—including a central lounge area with a fireplace surrounded by couches, rocking chairs, and benches made with sustainably sourced wood milled at Knapp Ranch in Edwards—is a significant new public art program.

It’s a partnership that came about serendipitously when an engineer on EGE’s expansion project, who saw a blank canvas in all the newly added wall space, put Josh Miller, deputy director of aviation, in touch with his sister, an art curator for ArtLifting. The Boston-based, for-profit social enterprise represents 190 artists living with disabilities and housing insecurity and partners with more than 400 clients who pay the company a fee to curate and stage art exhibitions in private homes, corporate campuses, and public places around the country. At the same time, Terminal Manager Jodi Doney had just returned from the annual conference of the American Association of Airport Executives at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport which, since 1969, has been committed to investing 1 percent of capital project costs in public art (known as “One Percent for Art”) and rotating exhibitions that give travelers both a dose of culture and a bit of distraction during their layover. 

With the blessing of EGE Director of Aviation David Reid, Doney reached out to Janessa Post, art advisor for ArtLifting, who proposed a four-year exhibition that would select and mount the works of ArtLifting artists in locations throughout the terminal, then rotate the collection and curate a new show after two years. While ArtLifting’s mission was the primary draw, “the fact that the program came with a curator helped jump-start our plan,” adds Miller. Another plus was the price point—$38,048 for the entirety of the pilot project—which the County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved in August.

The first collection, a handful of large-scale stretch canvas prints of original paintings installed this October, features the works of five artists, including Denver painter Lucas Farlow, whose Winter in the Rockies, an acrylic mountainscape at sunset, hangs in a private lounge reserved for nursing mothers. 

“Painting makes the pain worth it,” says Farlow, who was born with cerebral palsy and notes that his disability makes it difficult for him to sit for long periods of time. “I feel very liberated when I make art. It gives me more freedom than I have in real life.” 

Filling a wall in the central lounge area are Sierra Barnes’s Embracing the Blue and Higher Self (abstract human figures standing shoulder to shoulder, rendered in hues of bright blues and yellows, resembling stained glass panels). Between them is We the People, by Yvette, a 20-year Army veteran from Hinesville, Georgia, who describes her abstract rendering of a crowded room—each faceless human form connected to the other by a multihued brush stroke—as “a melting pot of different ethnicity … it doesn’t matter where you are from, we bleed the same color.”

Dallas-based Barnes learned to paint when she was 5—therapy that helped her process her emotions while recovering from surgery to remove a rare brain tumor. She still views art the same way. “It’s a form of meditation for me,” says Barnes, who also is a blogger and a poet. “All of my art comes with an original poem handwritten by me on the back. My poetry helps me to express my thoughts on each piece and the meaning behind each piece.” 

ArtLifting’s Post is excited to bring the program to EGE. “The rotating exhibits will introduce thousands of travelers to the work and stories of artists with disabilities, raising awareness about this community and their talents while supporting the artists directly.”

Founded in 2013 in Boston by former social worker Liz Powers and her brother, ArtLifting provides scalable art solutions and curation services for any environment, while creating economic opportunities for artists from 33 states who are traditionally underrepresented in the contemporary art market. Through partnerships with corporate clients like Delta Airlines and Google—and now EGE—ArtLifting artists share their talents and stories with the world while earning an income from sales and royalties.

In four years, EGE will evaluate the program and its budget and decide if it will continue, or perhaps develop a similar model to invest in and showcase the works of artists living in and around the Vail Valley. 

“It’s definitely worth the investment,” says Reid. “Traveling can be stressful, and art adds to the overall calming mood and vibe of the new terminal. It also says something about us and what we value. It gives the traveler a taste of what lies outdoors as a community.”