When Bob Rivard came across an art mural at the Denver Airport displaying an unusually large map of the United States, he scanned the painting to see if he could find San Antonio. The only sign of the city – the Toilet Seat Museum located in Alamo Heights.
The museum was located two blocks away from Rivard’s home and he thought, “How did they know about that?”
Rivard later found out that the mural was created by Gary Sweeney, who at the time–worked as a baggage handler at the airport. Sweeney had entered a competition for public art at the airport and soon after, had completed his third public art display for the Denver Airport – America, Why I Love Her.
In this week’s episode of “bigcitysmalltown” host Bob Rivard sat down with the San Antonio artist who spoke about his journey of being a traveling artist. His use of humor and vibrant outlook on life reflects from his artwork in pieces, which include The Story of Civilization.
When Sweeney first set out to become an artist, the thought of how he was going to make a living never crossed his mind. After graduating from UC Irvine with the knowledge of famous artists as his professors behind him, Sweeney had a reality check that life as an artist was not going to be as smooth sailing as he thought. “I was shocked when the art world didn’t embrace me and beat a path to my door,” he said.
Sweeney spent the next five years working from job to job from framing houses in the Hollywood Hills, to working for Hugh Hefner as a butler at the Playboy mansion, Sweeney was then offered a job as a baggage handler for the Denver International Airport.
And with the promise of being able to fly to Hawaii for free – Sweeney took it.
The secureness of the job allowed him to start taking local commissions for his art. “It was just this perfect job,” he said.
The job helped catapult Sweeney into his art career and in 1994 he created “The Battle of the San Antonio River” which is one of his top three favorite art pieces he has made. Today, residents can see Sweeney’s unique work featured on funky bench designs at Confluence Park to a sign on the River Walk made from found objects, all the way to the hidden giant footprints in the Travis Street parking garage.
