There is a brand-new way to fall in love with San Antonio — and it starts before you even leave the airport. Two dazzling murals, “Fountainhead” and “Rise Up,” have just been permanently installed in the new Ground Terminal at San Antonio International Airport, greeting every arriving traveler with a burst of color and story.
The works come from Kim Bishop, a San Antonio artist, UT San Antonio alumna, and longtime art educator who leads the university’s Young Artist Programs. Inspired by the Blue Hole — the natural spring at the headwaters of the San Antonio River — the site-specific installation unfolds like a story as travelers walk through the terminal. Visitors first move through imagery of the springs, then watch the river rise overhead like a sky, with animals of the river world appearing as constellations above them.
Spanning more than 2,400 square feet, the murals blend Bishop’s hand-painted technique with digital craftsmanship: she painted the artwork in her studio, adapted it digitally for fabrication, then returned to add hand-painted details — including iridescent paint that shifts with the light.
You can see “Fountainhead” and “Rise Up” in the Ground Terminal near gates A1A, A1B and A1C. For the young artists Bishop mentors, the installation is living proof that a San Antonio artist can create work big enough to become part of the city itself.
Photo: UT San Antonio
