Page 38 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN September-October 2012
September-October 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 39 A winning leader in the arts BY Carolyn Gold One of a continuing series of articles about women who are community leaders. Guess what happened to the girl next door. We watched that pretty child of our cherished neighbors grow through elementary and high school. Now she has become one of Atlanta’s leading women in the arts. That’s Amy Landesberg, a public artist and winner of the national competition to design the art installation in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s new international terminal. Her site-specific artwork, called Veneers, is 640 feet long and runs in the underground connector between Concourse E and the new Concourse F. It consists of enormously enlarged wood grains of 29 endangered species of rare trees. <strong>The</strong> natural wood-grain patterns have been computer magnified and colorized to show their designs in a new way. <strong>The</strong>se woods are endangered because they have been used historically as decorative veneers. Amy has created a meaningful connection between a city known for its trees, a mode of transportation that flies way above those trees, and colorful images bringing together ecological issues and art. Veneers, Atlanta International Airport EF Connector, south-side view looking west, bays 17-29 <strong>The</strong> national competition was held in 2004- 2005. Five artists were qualified by a panel to compete. Amy was the only local competitor, and she won. Her design, using 508 pieces of laminated glass, functions both as art and architecture, a glass dividing wall between the two corridors. LED light passes through the glass, projecting colors much as stained glass, onto passersby. <strong>The</strong> drawing took three people a year to complete. <strong>The</strong> entire construction took two years, and the whole project with the airport involved eight years, at a cost of $1.5 million. <strong>The</strong> high-tech project employs steel, glass, and lighting. Amy says, “It was like building a building.” It is situated in a space the length of three football fields. Amy Landesberg’s visual art background made her well qualified for this major project. As an undergraduate, her first interest in art was pottery, her major at the University of New Hampshire. Upon returning to Atlanta, she earned a master’s degree in visual art, again with emphasis in pottery, from Georgia State University. In 1981, she married John Whittemore, an installer of exhibitions at art museums. Amy became interested in architecture, and, a few years later, she entered Yale. <strong>The</strong> family, with one daughter, moved to New Haven, Connecticut. After three years and another daughter, Amy earned a master’s degree in architecture from Yale. Back in Atlanta, Amy worked for a couple of architectural firms. Now she works independently as Veneers, Cipres de la Guaitecas, Atlanta International Airport EF Connector, bay 6 bench either an artist, doing public art by commission, or as an architect. Her firms are Amy Landesberg Art & Design Incorporated, Amy Landesberg Architects, and LP3, in which she is a principal, along with Stuart Romm. About this team effort, Stuart said, “Amy has been a great friend and amazing collaborator on so many challenging architectural projects over the last 15 years. After growing up in the same community here in Atlanta, it was nevertheless a surprise to find ourselves teaching design studios side-by-side at Georgia Tech in 1992. <strong>The</strong>n, the Beth Jacob Mikvah was our first architectural commission together, followed by many more civic and college campus buildings. That’s where Amy’s probing art projects have opened up such vital insights into how to make our architecture far more unique and publicly responsive, both visually and environmentally.” Some of Amy’s recent public art projects include an installation on the exterior of the Fulton County Center for Health and Rehabilitation and an award-winning steel construction for an electrical sub-station owned jointly by Georgia Tech and Georgia Power. She has designed art galleries, museums, healthcare facilities, educational buildings, a rapid rail station, a fire station, and a university bookstore. Among her many honors and awards, over a nearly 30-year career of solo exhibitions, teaching, and building, is the Moulton Andrus Award for Art and Architecture, from the Yale School of Art and Architecture. Amy Landesberg believes that public art defines a civilization. Her latest winning work adds beauty, color, meaning, and the international issue of endangerment and preservation of natural resources to Atlanta’s international welcome. Veneers, Spanish Cedar, Atlanta International Airport EF Connector, bay 4