Opened in 1959, the international lounge at Gander airport is an avant-garde room featuring a large wall mural and ​​​​​​sculpture. (Martin Jones/CBC)

Mireille Eagan doesn't hold back when talking about the importance of the international lounge at Gander's airport.

The curator of contemporary art at The Rooms says the space has a significance that spans well beyond the central Newfoundland community.

"That mural is a significant part of the history of this province and a significant part of the history of Canada," she said.

Opened in 1959, the international lounge at Gander airport is an avant-garde room featuring a large wall mural and ​​​​​​ sculpture, as well as furniture considered to be glamorous for its mid-20th century installation.

The mural was designed by Kenneth Lochhead, among the leaders of modern art in Canada.

The mural was designed by Kenneth Lochhead, who the National Gallery of Canada says was at the forefront of Canada's modern art movement.Because traffic through the lounge has been sporadic since international flights began bypassing Gander, there's been a question of what value the art within it has, and if its value has been diminished.

During the recent Summer in Winterset Literary Festival, at the Flight and its Allegories event, the question about public art and its value surfaced. According to Eagan, the sense of ownership around the airport mural was impassioned.

"The value of this artwork is that it acted as a greeting to everyone from celebrities to the average person to people fleeing from the Eastern Bloc to people during 9-11," she said.

"I loved seeing people who saw [the] genuine importance of the lounge.… It speaks to the importance of artwork in our daily lives,"

Travellers overlook the 70-foot mural by Lochhead in this 1959 photo taken for the National Film Board of Canada. (Gar Lunney/Library and Archives Canada/National Film Board)

Whether people see it or not, Eagan says, the intention of public art is to be seen, but that doesn't mean art loses value if it's archived.

Art still accessible

Eagan said most galleries have only one to five per cent of their art for display to the public, with the remainder stored safely in archives.

She said that's acceptable, especially if the art was created to mark the history of a place or its culture. Putting art away in a vault won't change the fact that it still exists, and can be seen, she said.

The National Trust of Canada once called Gander Airport's international departures lounge the most important modernist room in Canada. (Garrett Barry/CBC)

"It's still accessible to researchers. It's still being taken of, cared for and still a record of a place."

The art at Gander's international lounge is expected to be seen by many more as a plan for the room is expected to be announced this month that will open it up to the public.

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