When travelers step into the new terminal at Hilton Head Island Airport this spring, they will be greeted not by signage or screens, but by something far more evocative – a sweeping, luminous image of a great blue heron in flight, gliding over the marsh toward the Harbour Town Lighthouse.
The 16-by-28-foot installation, titled Focused Precision, spans 16 glass panels separating the security checkpoint from the departure gates. It is an unavoidable focal point in the high-traffic terminal. Designed to serve as a welcoming experience for visitors and to reflect the unique character of Hilton Head Island, the piece offers something immediate and emotional before a single word is spoken.
The piece is the work of Charleston-based mixed media artist Christy Kinard – and for her, this commission is more than a professional milestone. It is a homecoming.
Artist Christy Kinard holds a print of her painting, Focused Precision, which will soon span 16 glass panels at the Hilton Head Airport.
As plans for the airport expansion moved forward, Beaufort County leaders envisioned something bold for the new terminal’s expansive glass wall – a visually compelling signature image that would immediately communicate “Hilton Head Island.”
Natalie Harvey, director of cultural affairs for the Town of Hilton Head Island, was brought into early discussions with the airport director to help guide the public art component.
“The idea was to create a ‘wow’ image – something that would feel distinctly Hilton Head Island, something that spoke to our natural beauty, our culture, our community,” Harvey said.
An open call to artists followed. The guidelines were intentionally broad. Submissions could be abstract or representational, photography or painting. The only requirement: The work needed to depict aspects of Hilton Head Island’s character, natural beauty, culture, or community, and it had to translate successfully to monumental scale.
The response was substantial. More than 200 entries were submitted by more than 100 artists, each allowed up to three works. A nine-member selection committee – including representatives from town council, county council, the arts council, Art League of Hilton Head, an interior designer, the airport architect, and a member of the Beaufort County Airport board – reviewed the submissions through a blind jury process.
That blind review mattered. Names were removed. Reputations were irrelevant. The committee evaluated only the strength of the image itself. Entries were scored on artistic excellence, creativity, representation of Hilton Head Island, and the ability to be enlarged for a visually compelling installation both from a distance and up close. Not every work could withstand a 16-foot enlargement without losing clarity or impact.
After narrowing the field to 20 finalists, the group returned to deliberate again, studying how each image would interact with light, glass, architecture, and movement within the terminal space. The final decision was not sentimental. It was intentional.
Kinard’s heron rose to the top.
An Artist Formed by the Lowcountry
Kinard’s artistic journey began decades ago in Dalton, Georgia, where she grew up surrounded by textiles, pattern, and European decorative influence. Her talent was evident early. She earned a place in Georgia’s Governor’s Honors Program in high school, leading to scholarship recognition at Savannah College of Art and Design.
“I’ve been an artist my entire life,” Kinard said. “This path really chose me.”
Over the past 30 years, she has mounted more than 75 exhibitions and has been featured in numerous publications. Her mixed media works – known for vibrant color, layered textures, and expressive mark-making – have been collected by corporations and private patrons alike.
Yet it is Hilton Head Island that has most deeply shaped her creative vocabulary.
Her family owned a home in Sea Pines, and she spent summers climbing the lighthouse, biking through Harbour Town, and watching the marshlands shift in light and tide. Years later, during a serious health challenge, she returned to the island seeking rest and healing.
“It was a place of restoration for me,” Kinard said. “A place where I could breathe.”
In that season of vulnerability, the rhythms of tide and sky became more than inspiration – they became refuge. The quiet expansiveness of the marsh offered perspective. The lighthouse she climbed as a child stood as a symbol of steadiness. Those impressions stayed with her.
Now, they anchor Focused Precision.
Each travelor will encounter the painting during a moment of transition- arrival, departure, reunion, anticipation.
The Heron in Flight
Kinard has long been fascinated by great blue herons.
“When I lived in Sea Pines, I would watch them from the porch,” she said. “They’re so precise. They wait. They focus. And then they move from point A to point B with incredible intention.”
That precision became metaphor.
For the airport installation, she envisioned the heron not only as a native Lowcountry symbol, but as a parallel to flight itself, an elegant traveler moving purposefully toward destination.
In the mural, the bird soars over layered marsh grasses toward a softly rendered Harbour Town Lighthouse. The lighthouse is present but not dominant, almost a whisper in the distance.
Harvey recalls that subtlety resonating with the selection committee. “It’s an image we’re well known for, but it’s not front and center,” she said. “It’s one part of a larger story. That was really appealing.”
Early design conversations had considered photography for the wall. Harvey is grateful the final selection is interpretive rather than literal. “Some great photographs were submitted for consideration, but this piece really captured the selection committee’s attention,” she said. “This feels artistic. It feels layered. It feels like a welcome.”
A Gateway Defined by Art
Airports are modern gateways. They shape first impressions. They signal identity before a visitor ever steps outside at their destination.
Choosing a piece of fine art, rather than branding, signage, or promotional imagery, sends a message about what Hilton Head Island values. This public art piece communicates that this is a place defined by beauty, by landscape, by intentional preservation of character.
The selected artwork will be reproduced on vinyl and installed permanently across the glass panels. The artist receives a $1,500 stipend for use of the work in the public space – though for Kinard, compensation was never the driving force. “People ask me why I’m an artist,” she said. “It’s not about money. It’s about what I can give to people.”
For an artist whose work typically lives in private homes and galleries, the scale of this installation represents a different kind of reach. “I’m usually in people’s homes,” she said. “To share my vision with thousands of people every day – that’s the reward.”
The new terminal serves roughly 3,000 passengers daily. Each traveler will encounter Focused Precision during a moment of transition – arrival, departure, reunion, anticipation. Some will pause. Some will simply absorb it in passing. All will experience it.
“This piece is going to be a really beautiful welcome,” Harvey said. “It incorporates our marshes, our birds, our sense of place. It feels appropriate.”
And scale mattered. The committee carefully considered which works could sustain visual integrity at monumental size. Kinard’s layered textures and bold composition allow the image to expand without losing its vibrancy or clarity.
“It’s going to look amazing at that size,” Harvey said. “I think it will be very striking.”
A Dream Still Unfolding
Though Kinard now lives and works in Charleston, her long-term dream brings her back to the island once more. She hopes one day to move back to Hilton Head and open a gallery – a space where locals and visitors alike can experience her work immersed in the landscape that inspires it.
For an artist whose creative language is shaped by marsh grasses, coastal skies, and lighthouse silhouettes, the vision feels both personal and inevitable. A gallery in Harbour Town would not simply be a business venture. It would be a return.
As the new terminal prepares for unveiling, Focused Precision stands as more than decorative enhancement. It reflects collaboration between Beaufort County and the Town of Hilton Head Island, a thoughtful jury process, and a shared desire to create something lasting.
But beyond logistics and selection criteria lies something quieter: the power of arrival.
Hilton Head Island is known for beaches and bike paths, but it is equally defined by light – that reflective glow across marsh and water at dusk. Kinard has captured that feeling not through literal replication, but through layered interpretation.
Travelers arriving for vacation will see it first. Locals returning home will pass it often. Children may point to the heron. Adults may pause at the lighthouse in the distance. Perhaps, without fully realizing it, they will feel what Kinard once felt as a child climbing the lighthouse steps – that sense of anticipation, promise, and belonging.
The heron moves forward with focus and grace.
So does the artist who created it.
