Houston airport's massive new art installation celebrates Texas flowers

HOUSTON, Texas -- Holiday travel in Houston just got brighter. A gargantuan new art installation will welcome flyers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

The piece is called Coastal Prairie Fiori. Inspired by the famous wildflowers of the Texas coastal plains, the construction is made up of 537 colorful, hand-blown glass elements and stretches nearly a third of a football field over the 17-lane TSA screening area in the new International Central Processor (ICP). Suspended on five custom armatures, the piece adds color and a sense of adventure to flying to and from the city.

Coastal Prairie Fiori is the work of Dale Chihuly, arguably America's best-known glass artist. He started working with the material in the 1960s during a weaving class, working shards into tapestries. Chihuly then moved into glassblowing, growing in expertise in the art even after being blinded in the left eye in a 1973 car crash. In the last several years, he has been specializing in airport installations, including Denver International Airport (DEN) and Will Rogers Airport (WRWA) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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