Artist Ron Bass stands in front of his largest art piece near one of the entrances at Terminal 7. Credit: Jean Brannum
By Jean Brannum | jbrannum@queensledger.com
Brooklyn artist Ron Bass installed four art pieces at Terminal 7’s arrivals area and three locations plane-side. The pieces show the spirit of New York City to visitors and those returning home.
Ron Bass, born in Crown Heights, created each of the pieces to show his love for New York. His largest piece, “Dear NY,” at the terminal arrivals area showcases himself as a boy looking over a vibrant and magical New York City, which is how he saw the city as a child.
“It’s an abstract story on New York through my lens, especially the younger years living here,” Bass said.
Bass has always enjoyed creating art since he was a child, especially drawing and painting. However, his original dream was to be a basketball player for the NBA. He started pursuing art seriously when he lost his mom at the age of 19 and his dad at 22. Bass used art to heal himself.
“I figured that art allowed me to express the things that I couldn’t say,” Bass said.
Ron Bass in front of his interactive art piece, called “Destination: New Heights,” at gate nine.
LaSher Harvey, Commercial Manager for JFK Millennium Partners, reached out to Bass because she knew he would be able to capture the spirit of New York, which is a mission of JFK Millenium Partners as the company rebuilds Terminal Six.
JFK Millenium Partners is building a new Terminal Six next door. Once the new Terminal is opened, Terminal 7 will be demolished and Bass’ pieces will be moved to the new terminal. The site of Terminal 7 will become the second half of Terminal Six. Through local business partnerships and art, Terminal 6 is designed to give people a taste of New York whether they are returning home, on vacation, or passing through.
Terminal 7 is home to Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, ANA, Condor, Ethiopian Airlines, Frontier, HiSky, Icelandair, Kuwait Airways, Norse, LOT Polish Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines, so many of its customers are likely visiting the city from other places and other countries.
Despite the plans to demolish the terminal, the team at JFK Millennium Partners still wanted to make improvements to people’s airport experience, said Karen Ali, Chief Operating Officer at JFK Millennium Partners.
“We are constantly looking at how we can further improve the passenger experience at Terminal 7 and reinvigorate the space. Our aim was to ensure that every traveler and every employee working at T7 felt New York’s vibrancy and positive, welcoming spirit when they entered our building – and we knew that Ron Bass was the artist to do this,” Ali said.
Ron bass poses with a family traveling from Minneapolis that got one of the first looks at the new art.
Bass created the art pieces digitally and printed them on metal sheets. This will make it easy for the pieces to be moved.
Another piece, “Destination: New Heights” is interactive and features two wings where someone can pose in-between them for a photo. A family visiting from Minneapolis immediately jumped in front to take photos as soon as the curtains were moved.
The other two pieces heavily feature the word “love”. “I (Really) Love NY” next to the currency exchange is similar to the famous “I love NY” slogan. A hand holding flowers replace the heart. This piece was printed onto individual postcards and handed to passengers in the terminal.
Bass’ final art piece near the currency exchange.
Finally, the piece “Unified” next to gate eight also has the New York City flag over a collage of “I (Really) Love NY” copies.
People passing through Terminal 7 will hopefully love New York a little more when they see the city’s spirit captured in the art.
