Documented artwork / architectural sculpture and mural installation
The Aviators
Credit as documented: Donald Lipski
The Aviators pairs monumental mirrored sunglasses with a cloud mural in Phoenix Sky Harbor's Terminal 3. Donald Lipski placed the glasses above an arrivals waiting area beside the parking garage. Chris and Will Kreig, a father-and-son painting team, hand-painted the ninety-foot-wide oil-on-canvas sky behind them. The airport's art guide connects the work with Arizona's civil and military aviation history and describes functioning hinges and vinyl nose pads on the steel frames.
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At a glance
- Year / version
- 2019 (artist and airport guide); 2018 (airport activity book caption)
- Materials
- steel, chromed fiberglass, oil on canvas, wood frame
- Documented setting
- indoor
- Dimensions
- Artist: sunglasses 30 ft wide; airport guide: 29 ft wide; airport activity book: sculpture 25 ft 4.75 in × 9 ft 3 in, axes not labeled. Cloud mural: 90 ft wide.
- Dimensions apply to
- Documented object or named component scope only; no relocation/engineering specification. Source disagreements and architectural measurements remain explicitly qualified.
- Availability
- Unconfirmed
Places & versions
Installation history
Historical presentations. A past installation does not establish the current location or suitability for a new site.
2019 (artist and airport guide); 2018 (airport activity book caption)
Terminal 3 east arrivals area, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona
- Site
- Waiting area adjacent to T3 parking garage, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Installation details checked 2026-10-17.
Materials and construction
Published measurements differ: the artist gives thirty feet, the airport guide twenty-nine, and its activity book twenty-five feet four-and-three-quarter inches by nine feet three inches. The activity book dates the work 2018, while the artist and guide use 2019. These discrepancies remain unresolved.
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Sources
- www.donaldlipski.net ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17
- www.skyharbor.com ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17
- www.skyharbor.com ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17