Description

These murals and mosaics depicting aviation, navigation, zodiac and constellations are in various locations throughout the Long Beach Airport Terminal. They were created by then 28-year-old artist Grace Clements.

From Early Aviation in Long Beach: “Long Beach declared the terminal (mostly unchanged since 1941) a cultural landmark in 1990. It remains the only terminal at the Long Beach airport.”

From the Long Beach Press-Telegram: “For years, works of art lay hidden beneath the feet of millions of passengers who annually frequent the Long Beach Airport. It wasn’t until recently, when the airport’s maintenance team was restoring the terminal, that the 1941 mosaics by Works Progress Administration artist Grace Clements were found underneath old carpeting. Found throughout the Art Deco airport’s first floor, Clements’ ceramic floor tile mosaics of a large global map, birds, a ship, an oil well and a hand dialing a telephone are a tribute to the city’s aviation, oil and communications origins.”