A Museum for the Cost of a BART Ticket

San Francisco International Airport

Addison Model 2A Radio c. 1940

Many people know that there is art at SFO, but did you know there is an actual museum?  Much of the art you see scattered around the airport as single pieces belong to the SFAC, however, the exhibits you see, carefully crafted for your enjoyment, are by an entirely different organization.

The SFO Museum was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purpose of humanizing the airport environment.  In 1999, SFO Museum became the first exhibitions program in an airport to receive accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.  The museum contains more than twenty galleries throughout the airport with a rotating schedule (every 6 months) of art, history, science and culture.

Cape Clasp c. 1875

I recently had the absolute pleasure of meeting Nicole Mullen, the curator of exhibitions at the SFO Museum.  She let me loose at the Japanese Toy Exhibit (more on that in the future).  Our airBART ride to the exhibit was most informative.  She explained that the museum had a chance to engage with the public for just a short period of time, most often when they were anxious, tired or hungry.  To curate exhibits for SFO was different than a typical art gallery, engaging people of all walks of life, many different cultures and different age groups, and all in a hurry to get somewhere, is challenging and very rewarding.

The collections are often put together with private collectors, giving the museum a unique pool to pull from of varying items.

There are four public displays in the International Terminal that don’t need a ticket to view.  There is also an Aviation Museum and Library off International Terminal A that is open to the public.

SFO Museum has an excellent on-line map with links to all of the exhibits throughout the airport.  You can view it here.

The photo above is from the Classic Plastics 1870’s – 1970’s.  It runs until January of next year.

Chicken Coop (Ubi) 20th Century

The Philippine Basketry is from the Fowler Museum at UCLA and also runs through January of 2014.

These photographs come from beautiful handouts that accompany the exhibits.  They are gorgeous, well-organized and extremely informative.

If you are looking for a unique museum experience, hop on BART and head to SFO.  You can view their many exhibits before you go and plan your visit by going to their website and seeing what is currently showing.

Woman’s basket and rain cape (tudang) 20th century