Philly art lovers migrate to Deirdre Murphy

Deirdre Murphy loves to paint. She loves to travel, too. So it’s more than perfect that four of her paintings are exhibited in Deirdre Murphy: Sky Paintings at the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) through March 2015. Ticketed passengers rambling or running between terminals C and D can see extremely large versions of her original 11-by-36-inch acrylic-on-panel paintings. The paintings show scenes of nature, kite-like figures, the blue sky, and birds — appropriate for a place with other winged objects taking flight.

Murphy’s exhibit is in a “ticketed passengers only” area (some of the exhibits, which the airport has displayed since 1998, are in general public areas), but non-fliers can still see her work. All they have to do is migrate around the region like the birds the artist so happily captures in paint.

The journey starts in the city, at the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in the Bellevue. Murphy’s works on paper, precursors to the final paintings, are displayed there. It continues on to the Gross McCleaf Gallery, which represents Murphy and has some of her work on view. Next stop: the Main Line Art Center in Haverford, where a few more originals are displayed. And finally, it’s time to fly down I-95 and Delaware Route 1 to Dover’s Biggs Museum of American Art. The artist is part of a regional landscape show there through July.

Murphy, who’s fascinated with the way flocks of birds move and “dance” together, is excited to be able to have her work displayed around the region. “For me, what’s most important is to share them with others,” she said of her paintings.

But the unique airport setting means that tens of thousands of people who might not get to a gallery or museum will see them.

“It’s a little surprise for them,” she said. She hopes that no matter where people see her work, they enjoy it.

To learn more about art on display at PHL, visit Art at the Airport.