Beadwork, 2004-2005

Enameled Stainless Steel and Powder Coated Aluminum

Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii

Commissioned by the Houston Airport System

The four sculptures are located at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in the international arrivals lobby. Integrated into the architecture, they serve as an aesthetic treatment to the building's support columns.

Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii have been collaborating for the past fifteen years. They have both worked on a variety of projects ranging from public art plans to design team collaborations. Together they have received over 35 public art commissions across the country. They have also co-authored three public art plans. Their innovative designs range from freestanding sculptures to architectonic spaces; from a pedestrian bridge at a Zoological Park to a Mediation Room in a Children's Hospital.

Artist Statement:

“While most generally consider bead as adornment, beads have been used throughout the world to express social circumstance, political history, economic structure, and religious beliefs. Beads have been enlisted as symbolic repositories of sacred knowledge; they have been thought to have curative powers; they have been used in barter or as standard monetary units; and they have been traded from culture to culture and have traveled across continents and oceans.

Because they are used by so many contemporary and ancient cultures, beads often mirror the sociological, psychological, economic, and religious aspects of a society that makes and wears beads. While beads have always tended to mirror a society's technical skill, there are certain universal features of beads and the handling of beads that cut across cultural differences. Houston Texas is a community built around diversity. This seems appropriate that the Meeter-Greeter area of the FIS building of its airport speak to this principle. Our large beads are intended to do just this.” Jim Hirschfield