Karankawa Sun Dream and the Truth Teller
Cruz Ortiz
COMPLETION DATE
August 2022
LOCATION
William P. Hobby Airport, Concourse West Wall, Near Gate 1
7800 Airport Blvd
Houston, TX 77061
District I
CLIENT
City of Houston
SPONSORING DEPARTMENT
Houston Airport Systems
PROJECT BUDGET
$82,000.00
Image Credit: All images courtesy of the Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs; Photographers: Slyworks Photography
Project Description
With this work, Cruz Ortiz seeks to acknowledge the ancestral sacred lands and waters of the Karankawa and the Akokisas peoples on land in what we now call Houston, Texas. Cruz honors and celebrates these people's resilience and strength in defending these unceded territories. Cruz achieves this by establishing a narrative-based artwork fluctuating between transfigurations of indigenous influences and the cosmos. This intertwining fluctuation expands into a realm where universality angles into mapping possibilities into our future existence. It acts as a dreamscape for travelers that visually translates our past and future world, going beyond the human condition and presenting human possibilities.
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HAA oversaw the artist selection, design, fabrication, and installation process for this artwork. Working diligently with sponsoring city departments, Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and the selected artists, HAA created and publicized the opportunity, coordinated the panel process, managed artist communications, and monitored on-site installation. Recommendation reports were submitted at the conclusion of Artist Selection and Design phases, and a robust closeout report was provided upon project completion detailing project summary and ongoing maintenance requirements.
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The Houston Airport System (HAS) is the City of Houston’s Department of Aviation, comprised of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, William P. Hobby Airport, and Ellington Airport/Houston Spaceport. The System served 54 million passengers in 2022 and nearly 60 million in 2019. HAS positions Houston as the international passenger and cargo gateway to the South-Central United States and as a primary gateway to Latin America. It contributed $36.4 billion to the local economy in 2019 and is responsible for creating 190,000 jobs.
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This project was funded through Houston’s Civic Art Ordinance, which requires 1.75% of the budget for eligible City-funded construction projects to be spent on integrating artwork and artists' ideas in public spaces and conserving the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection. The Houston Arts Alliance administers the civic art program for the City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
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ARTS REPRESENTATIVES
Bianca Alvarez, Public Art Project Manager, Department of Arts & Culture, City of San Antonio, San Antonio
Curt Gettman, Senior Project Manager, City of Austin’s Art in Public Places, Austin
Daisy Nam, Curator, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa
Florencia Bazzano, Curator of Exhibitions, Art Museum of South Texas, Austin
Jamie Robertson, Visual Artist and Educator, Houston
Janice Bond, Deputy Director, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston
Jennie Ash, Executive Director, Art League Houston, Houston
Michelle Barnes, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston
Miriam Garcia, Public Art Program Supervisor, Museums and Cultural Affairs Department, San Antonio
Rabea Ballin, Artist, Houston
SPONSORING DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVES
Alton DuLaney, Curator and Director of the Public Art Program, Houston Airports
Guillermo Cabrera, Chief Architect, Houston Airports
Dawn Hoffman, Assistant Director For Terminal Management, Houston Airports
Foti Kallergis, Director of Communications & Public Relations, Houston Airports
Maricela Kruseman, Founder and Director, Harmony In The Air
Artist Bio
Cruz Ortiz lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. In 1993, Ortiz co-founded San Antonio Cultural Arts. It is a non-profit focused on fostering human and community-based arts. Community-engaged art has led to the creation of the Community Mural Program. The Program is responsible for the creation of over 50 public murals throughout San Antonio. They range in style and size but share similar themes of community and hope. Additionally, Ortiz has served on the San Antonio Arts Commission in 2007, the Arts Commission of Austin in 2008, been a board member of ARTPACE San Antonio since 2018, and has been a part of the selection committee for Texas Medal of Arts from 2018-19.