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Santa Fe’s 8,500-square -foot Gerald Peters Gallery bills itself as the largest in the state, if not the country.

But art lovers who head south may find a 600,000-square-foot competitor.

The Albuquerque International Sunport boasts a collection of more than 120 pieces of art by New Mexican artists, including such high-altitude names as Wilson Hurley, Lincoln Fox, Pablita Velarde, Fritz Scholder, Alan Houser, R.C. Gorman and Tammy Garcia.

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In formats ranging from bronze to glass to oils to wool, they vary from sculpture and painting to weavings and at least one chandelier.

For more information on the art of the Sunport, visit abqsunport.com , click on the “At Sunport.” Click on the “Sunport Arts Program” in the drop-down menu for an artist list.

In 2000, the collection was appraised at $1.5 million. There’s even a secret, musty tunnel winding beneath the baggage loading area tiled in intricate mosaics of kachina and wildlife figures.

Often marked by long ticket lines, cramped seating, tabloid reading and fast food, airports rarely seem culturally enriching. But some seem determined to boost the flight delay experience with in-terminal public art. Today airports across the globe boast their own collections of regional art. In 2013, USA Today readers voted the Sunport second best in the country for art lovers, beaten only by Denver. Albuquerque bested such metropolitan airports as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York.

In the beginning

It all started with the airport’s expansion from 1985-1990, architect Ron Peters said. The Sunport was literally designed around the art.

“When we started, the city had no arts program,” Peters said in a telephone interview from Mesa, Ariz.

Former aviation director Lowell Pratte set aside roughly 1 percent of the Federal Aviation Authority money allotted to the project for art, which came to about $500,000, Peters said.

“We identified areas for art and put in the proper lighting and a security system and cases,” he said.

The city put out a call for artists and formed a selection committee.

“We wanted a broad brush,” Peters said, “a variety of everything.”

The group agreed to a single commission: Lincoln Fox’s “Dream of Flight,” (1989) a bronze sculpture of a native figure being pulled airborne by a soaring eagle. Located at the concourse intersection, the piece regularly draws fans posing for photographs, Sunport public relations director Daniel Jiron said.

“We thought it was representative of the airport,” Peters said. “We lowered it in from the top during construction.”

Two committee members who were also artists traveled to the Santa Fe Indian Market, returning with pottery and jewelry. Their stash included pottery by such renowned artists as Dora Tse Pe and Stella Teller.

An inlaid cuff by Angie Reano Owen features a mélange of turquoise, lapis, mother-of-pearl and abalone set in green snail shell. Paintings of horses and buffalo by Santa Fe Indian School muralist Pop Chalee bookend the second-floor escalators.

Other pieces bear historic significance as well as aesthetic appeal.

The 1914 biplane hanging from the Great Hall like some kind of mammoth mobile was rescued in pieces from a Texas barn. The sight drew the gaze of pilot Ken Malnar while he made his way to a local business meeting from his home in Frederick, Md.

“I’ve been to Kitty Hawk and it reminds me of that,” he said. “What’s stunning to me is it’s original.”

The plane was first owned by Glenn Curtiss, a rival of the Wright brothers. Former aviation director Pratte heard about the antique and bought it in 1987. The plane is one of the best-preserved of its era in existence, Jiron said.

“Not long after the city purchased it, the Smithsonian heard about it and offered them a blank check,” he said. “As a stand-alone antique, it is unparalleled.”

Hidden gems

Current security concerns have altered the artistic layout in unexpected ways.

The Transportation Security Administration recently requested a piece of art to break up the maze of security lines snaking into the concourse. They asked for “Chihuahua,” a papier maché sculpture of a yellow dog painted with multicolored ribbons and geometry donated by Albuquerque’s sister city of the same name.

“It makes people relax,” Jiron said. “It takes away the stress.”

Madrid installation artist Jezebel Wells’ “Illumination Tree” is the latest addition to the collection, funded by a private donor. Its blown glass petals dangle from the Great Hall in a cascade of multicolored water lilies.

More art lurks beneath the feet of hurried travelers and rolling suitcases.

Hidden from public view, the tunnel is a remnant of the old airport when people had to walk the full length of the terminal to catch their flight without the help of escalators, Jiron said. Artisans cemented the tiles onto the concrete. To remove them would be “cost prohibitive,” Jiron said. It was closed after the renovation.

With from 4 million to 5 million people traveling through the Sunport annually, it has become a coveted artistic showcase. Years of tight budgets have shuttered the buying program, and donations aren’t encouraged. Public art custodian Erika Anaya is readying plans to clean and restore the artwork for another appraisal before the end of the fiscal year.