The art in PDX’s new terminal may sneak up on you.
Maybe you’re waiting in line at the security checkpoint, after a morning of furious packing, when you look up at the video wall. Suddenly you’re drifting up the slopes of a mountain. Or you’ve sat down to wait for your parents’ flight to arrive when your attention is captured by a glass wall covered in colorful characters.
You’re having an unexpected art break.
Wendy Given, who manages the airport’s art program, commissioned seven new art moments in the main terminal, with more to come in 2026. The goal of filling PDX with great art, she says? Sparking delight. Telling new stories about the Pacific Northwest. Inspiring you to take a breath and relax.
Wendy worked with the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Half Sister Studio, and a selection committee to find the right artists. Some, like Yoonhee Choi and Brad Johnson, are based right here. Others, like Rebeca Méndez and Sanford Biggers, created works to celebrate our region.
Sanford, who is based in New York but exhibits around the world, says he’s a frequent traveler who knows what it’s like to rush through an airport. He hopes his hanging sculptures will say something new to you each time you spot them. “I want people to feel a sense of exploration and surprise, even meditation, as they get lost in the patterns and the structure of the piece,” he says.
7 conversation starters for your next art break
Artworks like to tell us something, whether we’re stopping to study them or zooming past. If one of PDX’s new artworks grabs your attention, but you’re not quite sure what it’s trying to say, here are a few thoughts to get the conversation started:
Yoonhee Choi’s Between
Where to find it: glass walls alongside the north and south security queues
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Yoonhee, a Portland architect and artist, designed thousands of colorful figures on two 56-foot glass walls. This is the first time she has worked in glass!
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Her colorful lines and shapes were inspired by our experience of traveling – like the flight paths on our airplane seat screens and the blue and green speech bubbles we stare at as we text on our phones.
Sanford Biggers’ Odyssey
Where to find it: Hanging above the north and south ends of the concourse connector
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Sanford’s geometric sculptures, printed with quilt patterns, are part of his “Codex” series, which was originally inspired by people who once hid designs in quilts to help formerly enslaved people find the route to freedom.
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If you’re a native Oregonian, your ancestors may have designed some of the patterns on the sculpture suspended near Concourses D and E: They’re from old quilts at the Oregon Historical Society.
Ivan McClellan’s 8 Seconds
Where to find it: Video walls above the north and south security checkpoints
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Ivan, a local artist who founded Portland’s annual Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo, travels around the country photographing Black cowboys. The short film he made for PDX is his very first.
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The rocky landscape where he filmed three (actual) cowboys riding their horses? It’s Owyhee Canyon, near Oregon’s eastern border.
Brad Johnson’s Terra Cascadia
Where to find it: Video walls above the north and south security checkpoints
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Based in Trout Lake, Washington, Brad Johnson is an interactive artist who created an 11-minute piece that sends viewers floating up the slopes of Mount Adams, down the lava tubes at Gifford-Pinchot, and through 10 other Northwest landscapes.
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All these images are animated 3D “point clouds” that Brad created by scanning 10,000 drone, aerial, and iPhone photos. His goal: showing you unfamiliar sides of local landmarks you think you know well.
Rebeca Méndez’s Walking the Earth: Oregon
Where to find it: Video walls above the north and south security checkpoints
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Rebeca Méndez, a UCLA professor who makes art focused on environmental issues, created this piece for PDX’s video walls. You’ll see completely different versions on the north and south screens.
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Rebeca stitched together video footage of nine hikes she took through awe-inspiring Oregon landscapes. She wants you to feel like you’re hiking through the entire state at the same time, even as the day speeds from dawn through dusk.
ShadowMachine’s stop-motion puppets
Where to find it: Temporary exhibit in the display cases on the north end of the concourse corridor
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Portland’s own stop-animation studio loaned PDX puppets and props they used to make Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, The Tiny Chef Show, and other films.
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When installing this kid-friendly exhibit, the puppeteers did all the work themselves!
Mezzanine Gallery’s Yoonhee Choi exhibition
Where to find it: Temporary exhibit in the pre-security gallery on the mezzanine level
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Want to learn more about Yoonhee after being delighted by her glass walls? PDX’s new gallery, which opens in early November, will host an exhibition showing more of the artist’s work.
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Each of the artists who have created major works for the main terminal will get a six-month gallery show. Next up in May 2025: Sanford Biggers.
Even more art is coming in 2026
You’ll have even more chances to have art moments once the second phase of the main terminal opens in early 2026.
Wendy and her team have already commissioned Dyani White Hawk and Kate Newby to make ceramic and glass tile walls. There will be more temporary spaces to display street art and local museum collections. And Louis Bunce’s 1958 mural for PDX – which caused quite a ruckus when the abstract expressionist painting debuted – will return to the airport.
Want to take an art walk around PDX’s art on display? Click on the “Art” tab in the interactive map on FlyPDX.com. It’ll guide you to more than 20 artworks, many of which are located pre-security!
Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington
"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."
Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.
Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."
Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon
Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.
"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.
"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."
Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon
Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."
"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."
Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington
"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.
Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.
"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."
In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.
By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.
In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.
SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.
The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.
The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.
The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.
Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.
Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.
At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.
Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.
Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.
Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.
Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.
The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).