The Cabell-Huntington Convention and Visitors Bureau has installed a new brochure rack at the Huntington Tri-State Airport. But this is no ordinary brochure rack. The CVB contracted with local artist Seth Cyfers to design a “Functional Art” brochure rack, in the shape of an airplane wing, that has been placed at the boarding gate entrance.
“We’ve been looking at this project for several years and it’s very exciting to finally see it come to fruition,” said Tyson Compton, President of the CVB. “Since our job is to entice people to visit Cabell and Wayne Counties and then present them with information on everything there is to see and do here, the airport is a logical location for our printed material, which includes our Visitors Guide to the area. So several years ago we started looking at how to handle this. We didn’t want just an ordinary wooden rack. And when Huntington was designated several years ago as a Certified Arts Community, we knew we wanted to really be creative with the design. We looked at several different options, including steel and aluminum and talked with several different artists. Seth’s concept really stood out and we opted to go with his design.”
“I really enjoyed working on this project,” Cyfers said. “And I like the idea that it’s public art that will have a functional use. We needed to establish that Huntington is an interesting place to visit so I wanted something that would stand out. I toyed with a few ideas but kept coming back to the concept of using an airplane wing. I worked at RCBI to cut out some parts with steel, then built the body out of styrofoam and clad it in aluminum, with rivets added to give it the appearance of an airplane wing. Then, to make it look more realistic, I opted to hand paint the final piece. Because of its intended use and the fact that it is going to be in a public area, it had to be safe and tough, while holding the form properly.”
“Since our goal is to get local tourism info in visitor’s hands, I think this will be a great tool for us,” Compton added. “It’s so distinctive looking, people will definitely be drawn to it.”
