Edition: Model Aviation - 2013/04
Page Numbers: 13,14
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In the Air

Aviation as Art

In May 2012, our club received a telephone call from a representative of the Phelps Art Center (PAC). We, the members of the Sky Rovers Flying Club of Phelps, New York, were asked if we would be interested in displaying our airplanes at the center. At first we thought this would be a one-day event; instead we were surprised and honored to learn that PAC wanted our model aircraft for a featured exhibit. The six-week exhibit was an aviation-themed art show.

PAC trustee Marion Donnelly attended our June club meeting to explain what PAC has to offer and how we could participate. Our members were enthusiastic to have the opportunity to show the community what the club does.

A committee of three visited the beautiful, historic PAC building. It is located in what had been St. John’s Episcopal Church between 1850 and 1955. The Gothic structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a significant example of early English parish architecture. After the church closed, it served Phelps as the public library until 2005 when it was taken over by Phelps Art Center.

Club members displayed more than 15 unique RC aircraft. A complementary display of plastic models was also included. The RC models on display ranged from basic trainers to scale aircraft, and there was even a 1/4-scale glider.

We are privileged to have as a club member a well-known aviation artist and historian, Ted Williams, who displayed 23 original paintings. His display opened two days before our annual club air show, and many out-of-town pilots attended the reception given by PAC.

Throughout the six-week display, PAC was visited by local residents—some of whom had never visited before—and by tourists in the area. Many great comments were made about the display. Guests began to appreciate that we all have “art” within us. We even gained a new club member.

Working with PAC Executive Director Edward Phillips and Marion Donnelly was a rewarding experience. Their willingness to help us display our aircraft in a manner that was interesting for viewers and safe for our models was appreciated. Having people who work in the world of art and who can appreciate the level of skill and dedication in our projects was a boost to our collective self-esteem.

Is there a local arts council in your area? Approach it, because art is infectious and everybody benefits from such a community-based initiative.

—Dave Reid [email protected]

PAC Trustee Marion Donnelly added the following:

Art, defined, is the human ability to make things through creativeness and skill. Art is all around us in our daily lives. We take the design of a product we use for granted, gravitating toward that which we find most pleasing for the function we are seeking. The houses we buy, the automobiles we drive, the magazines we subscribe to, and the clothes we wear are all designed by humans to please others enough to entice purchase and ownership.

There is a saying in industrial design: form follows function. In our technological age this is especially true. Steve Jobs, ever striving for the simple, convenient, elegant product, proved that with sales.

There are products that seem to serve no other purpose than to please the senses: sculpture, paintings, jewelry, photography, books, etc. These things, created by the skilled and gifted, do serve a function other than to please. They are the tangible expression of the creator’s thoughts and ideas in the materials used and the design executed.

We build special places to house such arts: museums, galleries, churches, etc., and those buildings are examples of man’s creativity. We treasure those examples of earlier civilizations’ remnants of their art.

Model building is an art. It requires skill and patience. It teaches attention to detail, an appreciation for the original builder/craftsman, and the satisfaction that comes when a task is completed and functioning. The finished product is art; it is a tactile product of human activity.

—Marion Donnelly PAC trustee

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.