Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

Visitors inspect "Topograph," by artist Kendall Buster, hanging in the entry lobby at SFO's Terminal 2

Even in these hard economic times, the Bay Area overflows with vibrant art institutions, among them the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Oakland Museum of California and the San Francisco International Airport. Yes, that last one is correct.

With an annual budget of more than $3 million and 27 full-time employees, about 20 gallery spaces housing six-month-long temporary exhibitions on a variety of esoteric subjects like Japanese pottery and platform shoes, an Aviation Museum dedicated to commercial air travel and a vibrant commissioning partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission, SFO is home to a world-class art collection.

Although not a museum in the traditional sense, the collection includes museum-quality works by top Bay Area artistic talents like Wayne Thiebaud, James Torlakson, Roy De Forest, Hassel Smith and Lee Mullican, all of whom can be found in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The holdings also include works by international art stars like Arnaldo Pomodoro and Seiji Kunishima.

Many airports display art — the San Jose International Airport has a cutting-edge video installation on the sensitive theme of surveillance, for example — but the San Francisco International Airport’s exhibition program is the only one in the country to have received accreditation from the American Association of Museums.

Few airport galleries have the resources to undertake the process, which takes two to three years. But for SFO, which initially received accreditation in 1999, it was worthwhile.

“The accreditation is a valuable check to see that we continue maintaining the highest professional standards in both policy and practice,” John Hill, curator of the Aviation Museum, said.

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Now, with the opening of the remodeled Terminal 2 on April 14, the art experience at the San Francisco International Airport is becoming even more enticing.

In addition to reinstalling 20 works from the airport’s permanent 60-piece art collection, the San Francisco Arts Commission is introducing five newly commissioned pieces.

Passengers in the airy, naturally lighted $388 million terminal will be able to propel iridescent-winged acrylic “butterflies” up wires using a mechanical hand crank in the local artist Charles Sowers’ interactive kinetic sculpture “Butterfly Wall.” Visitors with long layovers can take a cellphone audio tour covering the terminal’s complete art collection. Local musicians from the airport’s "You Are Hear" music program like the alt-cellist Zoe Keating and the Nice Guy Trio, a jazz group, will perform live.