Seattle’s Museum of Flight, just up the road from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), is a pretty cool place to spend an afternoon or a long layover. In addition to the first jet Air Force One and a British Airways Concorde, the museum is home to an incredible collection of historic aircraft, spacecraft, and aerospace artifacts.

Starting this Friday, June 13th, the airport will be hosting a major exhibition of aerospace art. The American Society of Aviation Artists 2008 International Aerospace Art Exhibit features more than 50 paintings and sculptures and runs through September 14^th.

(A great time to visit might be this Sunday, June 15^th – Father’s Day – when dads get in free.)

Here are some images from the show:

Above: “Twilight of the Jagdfliegers,” by Steve Anderson.

Above: “Lightening Lady”, by Stan Vosburg

Above: “Time Capsule Rocketship,” by Erik Lindbergh, (grandson of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh)

The art world is mourning the passing of Robert Rauschenberg, who died yesterday at age 82. He’s described in the New York Times as a “painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer” who “defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style”

Travelers flying through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport can pay their respects and see an example of Rauschenberg’s work at the “elbow” of Concourse C, just as you pass the Horizon gates and before you get to Gate C8.

The airport’s art collection includes Star Quarters, an intricate serigraph on mirror-coated Plexiglas.

Photo courtesy: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport