In a Friday article about live musical performances at the aiport, the Tribune-Review mentions that Akiko Kotani's 1984 piece "Strip Mines" will be reinstalled.
The airport also announced that it has reinstalled “Strip Mines,” a three-panel, 41-foot tapestry of wool on linen by Slippery Rock artist Akiko Kotani. The work, originally commissioned by the Allegheny County Bureau of Cultural Programs in 1984 for Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, was removed for renovations at the airport.
The Pittsburgh Press profiled Kotani, a Hawaii native and a longtime Slippery Rock University professor, and "Strip Mines" in 1983. She told the paper:
"When I came here I'd never seen strip mines before. They were overwhelming. I'd never seen dirt dug up in heaps in shapes like I saw. And every time I drove through it, it would be different. It was an incredible earthwork changing for me. Like a moonscape that kept changing. I was fascinated by the colors and shapes. And after the land is reclaimed, there's a swimming hole. In the summer I swam in one."