Winging It: GE Aerospace Teams with CVG and ArtWorks to Create Fun, Funky Mural

Traveling through Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) just got a little more enjoyable. 

A new mural unveiled at CVG coincides with this year’s community-wide ArtsWave campaign as “a visual celebration of the many hands, roles, and experiences that bring air travel to life,” says Kim Best, who manages community relations at the airport. The mural was commissioned by GE Aerospace and CVG, and created in partnership with ArtWorks, an award-winning local nonprofit which creates public art that bolsters the region’s artistic reputation. 

Aptly named “Making Connections,” the mural is located in the main terminal at the Welcome Point: one level below the ground floor, where the underground transportation tunnel connects to Concourses A and B, and families and friends can wait for and greet travelers. Best notes that in a location as sprawling as CVG, it was important for the mural to reside in an area that was open to the public. “We’ve put it where people can interact with it without having to go through the security checkpoint,” she says. “Once we identified this area, it was a no-brainer.”

“Art brings people together and makes our workplaces more inviting. Art tells stories,” says Mike Kauffman, head of technology and operations in industrial transformation at GE Aerospace and the executive champion for the company’s 2026 ArtsWave fundraising campaign. “This mural highlights the importance of aviation in our region — how our industry collaborates through innovation — and it celebrates the people who make air travel possible.”

The mural is divided into four sections made up of three panels. Each section depicts a different theme of what air travel is all about — aircraft, engines, airports, and passengers — and flows seamlessly from panel to panel. Splashed with bright primary colors and painted in a lighthearted style, the mural depicts what makes it all possible — the engineers and technicians who work on jet engines, luggage handlers and ground crews who support operations, pilots and flight attendants who take the plane skywards, and of course the passengers who are supported along the way. 

While the themes are grounded in reality, the mural puts a creative lens on air travel and what it means to fly. It even gives Cincinnati’s unofficial mascot a cameo appearance with a flying pig (or two). 

“You can see the flying pigs alongside the plane — naturally,” says Best. “Keeping it lighthearted works with all ages. We’re creating the entire ecosystem of the airport, so we wanted to make sure it’s engaging for anyone traveling through CVG.” 

ArtWorks has a well-established process for such projects. After initially being contacted by Best and Deb Silverman, director of philanthropy for GE Aerospace and the GE Aerospace Foundation, ArtWorks proposed Maria Nacu, an artist and illustrator who attended Northern Kentucky University, to conceive the mural and head up the project. Silverman and Best liked the bold colors and storytelling captured in Nacu’s portfolio.   

Once they’d settled on the design, Nacu handed things over to three fellow “teaching artists” and 16 student apprentices from local schools, who mapped out and painted the 12 panels over the summer at the ArtWorks studio in Walnut Hills. It took about six weeks to complete. 

“From designing the mural on an iPad to seeing the final installation at scale is overwhelming — in a good way!” says Nacu. “I traveled a lot last year, so I lucked out on the research portion of the process. Most of the inspiration comes from what I observed in the airport.” 

Nacu called it “a fun challenge” to connect four narratives across a modular mural. “Finding a balance between GE Aerospace’s credibility and the whimsical style was another highlight of the process,” she adds. “It’s rewarding to see all of the hard work the team put in. To see it brought to life is something special.”

“Making Connections” was installed in December and will grace the walls of the Welcome Point until the end of the year. For both CVG and GE Aerospace, it strikes a note of pride in the region’s place in aviation history, literally making the connection between the engine makers and the end-users, whether they be passengers or pilots. 

“We’re proud to celebrate this mural as a symbol of what strong partnerships can accomplish,” says Larry Krauter, CEO of CVG. “Our collaboration with GE Aerospace reflects a shared commitment to innovation, growth, and the long-term success of our region. This partnership with ArtsWorks highlights the importance of investing in the arts as a vital part of our community’s identity and vibrancy.”

As it happens, GE Aerospace is also home to several ArtWorks projects, including “Reaching New Heights,” commissioned as part of a previous ArtsWave campaign, and “The Flight Home,” a mural created for the Customer Experience team that was unveiled in their offices in January.