Two new works by Kim Bishop, MFA ’22, a San Antonio artist and manager of UT San Antonio Professional and Continuing Education’s Young Artist Program, are welcoming travelers to the Alamo City while sharing a story deeply rooted in San Antonio’s history and connection to the river.
Bishop’s “Fountainhead” and “Rise Up” have been permanently installed in the new Ground Terminal at San Antonio International Airport. Together, the site-specific works span more than 2,400 square feet and invite travelers to experience the San Antonio River not simply as a familiar landmark, but as a place of origin, history and cultural memory.
For Bishop, the project represents another chapter in a career that brings together public art, storytelling and arts education.
“This work is about offering those coming to our city a better understanding of the identity of San Antonio and its long history around the San Antonio River as a place of creation,” Bishop said.
Bishop is also a UT San Antonio alumna, earning her Master of Fine Arts in 2022. Her connection to the university now continues through her work with Young Artist Programs, where she serves as program manager.
Telling San Antonio’s story through public art
The inspiration for “Fountainhead” and “Rise Up” begins at the Blue Hole, the natural spring at the headwaters of the San Antonio River.
Bishop designed the installation so that travelers encounter the artwork as a visual narrative while moving through the terminal. Entering the space, visitors move through imagery inspired by the Blue Hole and its powerful natural springs. As they continue down the ramp and the terminal opens around them, the perspective changes.
The river moves overhead, becoming a kind of sky, while animals associated with the world beneath it appear as constellations. Below the elevated mural, windows offer views of aircraft moving across the airport grounds, creating another layer within the landscape Bishop constructed.
“The work is site specific in that I organized it like a story that the audience can engage with,” Bishop said.
The scale and production of the installation also required Bishop to move between traditional and digital methods. She initially hand-painted the artwork in her studio before digitally manipulating the imagery so the expansive work could be fabricated for installation. Bishop then returned to the surface during and after installation, adding additional hand-painted elements, including iridescent paint that changes with the light.
The result combines Bishop’s hand-painted technique with the monumental scale required for one of the city’s most visible public spaces.
Left: Bishop with her “Rise Up” mural. Right: Contractors install the “Fountainhead” mural.Artist, educator and Roadrunner
Bishop (second from left) joins airport and city officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the installation of “Fountainhead” at the San Antonio International Airport.
Bishop’s path as an artist has long been intertwined with her work as an educator.
After nearly 30 years as a public-school art teacher, Bishop returned to higher education, completing her graduate studies at UT San Antonio in 2022. Today, she works with UT San Antonio Professional and Continuing Education’s Young Artist Programs, where she creates opportunities for children and teens to develop their artistic abilities.
As Young Artist Programs manager, Bishop leads programming that nurtures creativity, builds technical skills and connects young artists with San Antonio’s larger creative community.
Her career also demonstrates the range of paths available in the arts, spanning education, studio practice and large-scale public work.
Bishop has previously completed public art projects with the City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, including “Poet’s Pointe” and murals at Blanco Road and Dresden Drive. For the airport project, Bishop was invited from a prequalified pool of public artists to develop a proposal for the site. The airport ultimately chose her concept for installation.
With “Fountainhead” and “Rise Up”, Bishop’s work now becomes part of the experience of arriving in San Antonio, introducing visitors to a story of the city that stretches far beyond its modern skyline.
For the young artists Bishop works with at UT San Antonio, the installation also offers a visible example of a San Antonio artist creating work at a scale that becomes part of the city itself.
Visitors can experience “Fountainhead” and “Rise Up” in the new Ground Terminal at San Antonio International Airport near gates A1A, A1B and A1C.