Getting started Day 1 - after sitting in 4 hours of traffic, my sister Cynthia and I finally make it to MIA, through security and out to the gates. Four years of planning finally coming together. The fun starts now. Here I am working with Gendry the Public Art & Community Outreach Coordinator at MIA - she is incredible - bright, dynamic and full of good spirit.

First line of attack - figure out exact heights for portraits and text.

Pre-visualizing with the small samples.

My sister Cynthia is an angel in disguise - bless her heart for always being there to support my wild ideas, and for taking on the the task of hanging ALL the text for the show. You ROCK sister. 

We ran into a BIG frustration with the text stickers. Too many bubbles - we could not get them to adhere properly. Thank goodness Chris from the MIA signage dept came to our rescue.

Chris showed us how to do a ‘wet application’ with soapy water and gave us some fantastic baby squeegees too. He was our savior BIG time. Back to work asap - the clock is ticking. 

It was funny to be working so hard - while being watched by the surrounding travelers. More than once I felt like we were the Marx Brothers.

End of day 1 and we still have SO MUCH to do. The sticker fiasco put us back time-wise. 

Going strong as a team - although the sun was setting and we were behind - we stayed focused and inspired by each other’s kindness and dedication.

Wrapping it up for the night - realizing we better just stay at the MIA airport hotel. It was already 8:30pm and if we drove back to Key Largo - bc of morning traffic we would have to get up at 4:00AM to make it to MIA by 8:30 the next day. We had not planned to spend the night at MIA so we had no extra clothes or sleep over stuff. Thank God Jose at the hotel check-in had toothbrushes for us.

Day 2 - 8:30 AM we have the entire exhibit with us as we head through the airport. This was probably the most emotional part of the experience for me. I could feel the energy of the show exuding from the cardboard - I had not seen the final prints yet - but i knew they were going to be powerful at such a large scale.

Our path through employee security with such a big item included going out on the tarmac. It was exciting to be weaving in between the planes. My vision was on it’s way to becoming a reality.

Endless measuring, taping, going up and down the ladder… Hanging 43 pieces of art requires being as efficient as possible with each step of the process. An additional 1 minute of work to hang each piece - turns into 43 additional minutes added to the day. As a team we were focused and streamline -  a well oiled machine working at maximum capacity. 

Day 2 ended up being an 18 hour day. This was the 1 five minute break we took the whole day. On top of the hard work we all had to stay together at all times bc of the TSA security rules. That included getting food, water, going pee, etc… The three of us bonded big time.

A kind woman who was watching us work for several hours offered to take our photo. We look so happy - and inside I think we were getting a little weary.

I love this portrait of Nico. Gate D30 was the first place we got the photos up before the sun set on us. We would go forward working with zero visibility of the images because it was dark outside. This made it incredibly challenging to hang the additional 36 photos that still needed to go up.

Day 2 it is 7:00 PM all of Gate D30 is up - and the sun is going down quickly. We still have 36 more photos to hang. Although the windows are prepped and text stickers are up - little did we know it would take another 7 hours before we were done.

Getting wobbly from going up and down the ladder hundreds of times - and now it is almost midnight.

We are DONE at last. Day 2 - almost 2:00 AM and we are all tired, stinky and relieved. How blessed I am to have such smart, gracious, dedicated team players by my side. Gendry and Cynthia RULE : )

MIA ( Miami International Airport ) at 2:00 AM is a ghost town. We are exhausted and so glad to be done. Now we just need to cram the three of us into Cynthia’s 2 seater convertible to get Gendry home to her loving/patient family. Tomorrow morning will be like X-mas when we come back to finally see the show in the light of day. We are all filled with hope and anticipation.

Getting started Day 1 - after sitting in 4 hours of traffic, my sister Cynthia and I finally make it to MIA, through security and out to the gates. Four years of planning is finally coming togetehr. The fun starts now. Here I am working with Gendry the Public Art & Community Outreach Coordinator at MIA - she is incredible - bright, dynamic and full of good spirit.

First line of attack - figure out exact heights for portraits and text.

Pre-visualizing with the small samples.

My sister Cynthia is an angel in disguise - bless her heart for always being there to support my wild ideas, and for taking on the the task of hanging ALL the text for the show. You ROCK sister. 

We ran into a BIG frustration with the text stickers. Too many bubbles - we could not get them to adhere properly. Thank goodness Chris from the MIA signage dept came to our rescue.

Chris showed us how to do a ‘wet application’ with soapy water and gave us some fantastic baby squeegees too. He was our savior BIG time. Back to work asap - the clock is ticking. 

It was funny to be working so hard - while being watched by the surrounding travelers. More than once I felt like we were the Marx Brothers.

End of day 1 and we still have SO MUCH to do. The sticker fiasco put us back time wise. 

Going strong as a team - although the sun was setting and we were behind - we stayed focused and inspired by each other’s kindness and dedication.

Wrapping it up for the night - realizing we better just stay at the MIA airport hotel. It was already 8:30pm and if we drove back to Key Largo - bc of morning traffic we would have to get up at 4:00AM to make it to MIA by 8:30 the next day. We had not planned to spend the night at MIA so we had no extra clothes or sleep over stuff. Thank God Jose at the hotel check-in had toothbrushes for us.

Day 2 - 8:30 AM we have the entire exhibit with us as we head through the airport. This was probably the most emotional part of the experience for me. I could feel the energy of the show exuding from the cardboard - I had not seen the final prints yet - but i knew they were going to be powerful at such a large scale.

Our path through employee security with such a big item included going out on the tarmac. It was exciting to be weaving in between the planes. My vision was becoming a reality.

Endless measuring, taping, going up and down the ladder… Hanging 43 pieces of art requires being as efficient as possible with each step of the process. An additional 1 minute of work to hang each piece - turns into 43 additional minutes added to the day. As a team we were focused and streamline -  a well oiled machine working at maximum capacity. 

Day 2 ended up being an 18 hour day. This was the 1 five minute break we took the whole day. On top of the hard work we all had to stay together at all times bc of the TSA security rules. That included getting food, water, going pee, etc… The three of us bonded big time.

A kind woman who was watching us work for several hours offered to take our photo. We look so happy - and inside I think we were getting a little weary.

I love this portrait of Nico. Gate D30 was the first place we got the photos up before the sun set on us. We would go forward working with zero visibility of the images bc it was dark outside. This made it incredibly challenging to hang the additional 36 photos that still needed to go up.

Day 2 it is 7:00 PM all of Gate D30 is up - and the sun is going down quickly. We still have 36 more photos to hang. Although the windows are prepped and text stickers are up - little did we know it would take another 7 hours before we were done.

Getting wobbly from going up and down the ladder hundreds of times - and now it is almost midnight.

We are DONE at last. Day 2 - almost 2:00 AM and we are all tired, stinky and relieved. How blessed I am to have such smart, gracious, dedicated team players by my side. Gendry and Cynthia RULE : )

MIA ( Miami International Airport ) at 2:00 AM is a ghost town. We are exhausted and so glad to be done. Now we just need to cram the three of us into the 2 seater convertible to get Gendry home to her loving/patient family. Tomorrow morning will be like X-mas when we come back to finally see the show in the light of day. We are all filled with hope and anticipation.