Beauty of flight2 area museums partner to show
collection of local aviation art
By DEBORAH M. MARKO Staff Writer dmarko@thedailyjournal.com
After dazzling the Millville Army Air Field Museum home crowd, a celebrated art exhibit now canvases a new neighborhood. "Aviation Art -- The Beauty of Flight" arrived safe recently at the Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, where it will be displayed through May 1.
It's the third time the 21-piece exhibit featuring a collection of prints and lithographs illustrating the history, technology and beauty of the war birds of World War II will be publicly shown, said Lisa Jester of the Millville Army Air Field Museum. The exhibit debuted June 2006 at the local army air field museum before it moved downtown to the Millville Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts last November, Jester said.
A local connection made it possible for the exhibit to venture farther afield.
Mike Cagno, who formerly served as executive director of Millville's Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, stepped down in August to accept a similar position with the Noyes Museum. As the Renaissance Center's director he had endorsed the army airfield museum's application to the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission for a $4,500 grant to make the traveling exhibit possible.
When the grant was awarded, Cagno was in a position to make that trip possible.
"We were able to adjust the schedule at the Noyes Museum to get it into a newly refurbished wing," Cagno said. For the first time, the army air field museum staff had to construct travel crates and carefully wrap their art in bubble wrap for the 40-mile field trip.
Several thousand people are expected to view the artwork, which may pique their interest in the exhibit's home base in Millville.
This may result in additional foot traffic at the local army air field museum, Jester said.
As familiar as she is with the art, Jester said, the exhibit will be impressive at the Noyes, documenting the people in combat and the historic planes in flight.
"I can't wait to go," Jester said. "I'm 40, I'm not a veteran -- it gets in your heart."
The display moves beyond the Noyes' traditional landscapes and still lifes and brings a historical perspective to the gallery. The exhibit "has strong ties to South Jersey as well as the whole nation," Cagno said. "The quality of work is superb."
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