Earlier Flight Art Installation Makes Debut in RDU Parking Garage

RDU Airport, NC – Travel as an art form has taken shape in a new installation in the Raleigh-Durham International Airport parking garage atrium, lending a new meaning to in-flight luggage.

Earlier Flight, by artist and former Southwest Airlines employee Dunne Dittman, consists of a flock of 15 geese flying in formation. The body and wingtips of the geese are made of stainless steel and the midsections are crafted from vintage Samsonite suitcases.

“Dunne proposed the idea to the Airport Authority several years ago,” said Teresa Damiano, RDU’s director of marketing and project manager of the art installation. “He was so enthusiastic and passionate about his vision, that we asked him to create a prototype and work with our engineering consultants to develop a way to install it.”

The proposal, along with a watercolor painting of the design and the prototype, were presented to Board members of the Airport Authority’s art committee two years ago. The $56,000 project was funded last year and installation completed on April 16, 2008.

Dittman, an employee for Southwest for 19 years, became interested in vintage luggage while working for the airline. He collected the suitcases as a hobby until the idea struck him to transform part of the collection into a work of art. Earlier Flight was designed to recall a bygone era of suitcases adorned with destination stickers that represented a simpler time for air travel.

The flock spans 56 feet long and 35 feet wide. It was proportioned to the dimensions of the parking garage atrium. Each bird is fitted with a wooden frame for stability and is carefully hung with stainless steel cables to gently sway with the motion of air and vibration from the garage.

Dittman created the work as a monument to a time long gone, when travel was glamorous and available only to the elite. At the same time the work symbolizes the increased accessibility modern age air travel brings with millions of passengers flying with the ease of a flock of geese.

Perhaps the golden age of travel is not gone, but according to Dittman, it simply took the Earlier Flight.

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