Phoenix Airport Museum

The art museum at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona is a great way to kill time between flights. The current photographic exhibition is a delight.

En route to London this week, I found a great way to pass the time at the Phoenix Airport Museum. I particularly like the direct flight from Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport on British Airways – no stopovers, no changing planes – and the discovery of the art museum now makes this journey even better.

The art gallery is located in Terminal 4, and the current exhibition is entitled "Through a Teenager's Lens." It features photographs by students from Phoenix's South Mountain High School, who were part of the Advanced Art Studio Photography class. Instructor Bob Hurley started the course in 1985 and ran it for 10 years, when Susan Rawlin took over and she continues teaching it today.

The exhibition contains some of the best work from the course archives. The photos were delightfully good, and equal in both subject matter and technique to many of the pictures I see by more experienced photographers displayed in galleries around the world.

Originally the course focused on black and white photography but evolved to include digital techniques. And although the cameras and the photographic processes may have changed over the past 20 years, the pictures show that what captures teenagers' interests remains very similar.

Children, friends and grandparents were often chosen as subjects. There were several budding fashion photographers, and I could only imagine the scene as they posed their models for some creative portraiture. The students' photos each made a statement, and the images they created revealed what was important to them.

My favorite photo was "Boy and Ball" by Martha Granados (1999, grade 11). The gelatin silver print showed a very round, scowling baby sitting on the grass next to a big ball the same size. It was both humorous and inspired.

I was also impressed by "Pepper – a la Weston" by Megan Purvis (1996-97, grade 12), a sepia-toned gelatin silver print that was so well lit it made a gnarled bell pepper look as sensual as Edward Weston's famous nudes.

But all of the young photographers deserve praise, as their photos show a lot of skill and creativity. I wonder, what are they doing today? Have they kept up their interest in photography? Are some even working in the field professionally? Let me hear from you!

For more information on Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport click here.

Read about Phoenix's Heard Museum by clicking here.