Phoenix Airport Museum Celebrates Phoenix Zoo's 50th Anniversary With "Art Gone Wild"

Sky Harbor International Airport is embracing its inner animal by celebrating the Phoenix Zoo’s 50th anniversary with an “Art Gone Wild” exhibit.

The Phoenix Airport Museum’s exhibit features more than 20 ceramic and bronze wildlife sculptures by Heidi Uotila, and more than 70 animal pictures created by local children, says Jeri Walker, a Phoenix Airport Museum information specialist.

Uotila’s collection showcases sculptures of zebras, gazelles, tigers, lions and giraffes among other animals.

Heidi Uotila is nationally syndicated wildlife sculptor, now a high school ceramics teacher, and lent the Phoenix Airport Museum sculptures she had at home.

Uotila says after she has decided what animals she wants to sculpt, she travels to see them in person and studies their movements

“People are pretty easy to do because you can get them to sit and pose for you,” Uotila says. “Animals are much more challenging because they don’t stand still.”

In recent years, Uotila has moved away from working with bronze sculptures due to the cost of bronze, and says she’s found working with clay to be challenging but rewarding.

Each art piece is accompanied by text that includes educational facts about the animals on display — as well as other facts about the animals and their relatives at the Phoenix Zoo.

The exhibit, located at terminal four on level three in Sky Harbor International Airport, runs until March 2013. Visiting the Phoenix Airport Museum is free, and it’s open 24 hours a day. With more than 600 pieces of artwork and 35 exhibitions, Phoenix Airport Museum is one of the largest in the country.