Artist Margaret Ross Tolbert Reimagines the ‘Orlando Springs’ at MCO’s Terminal C

Artist Margaret Ross Tolbert expands her original installation with new large-scale paintings.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Gainesville-based artist Margaret Ross Tolbert is devoted to sharing the magic and mystery of the freshwater springs of the Floridan Aquifer, the state’s geographically unique underground water system, in an expansion of “Orlando Springs” at Terminal C.

In 2011, hundreds of her mosaic paintings were commissioned for “Orlando Springs” in the international arrivals area in Terminal A, Airside 1. The dense arrangement of blue-hued paintings, many painted on-site at Orlando-area springs, welcomed travelers for more than 10 years until international arrivals moved to Terminal C. Now, a fresh vision brings the relocation, reinstallation, and expansion of this imaginative work to a new space.

Tolbert’s artwork engages viewers on a springs journey across two levels in the Terminal C space. As travelers depart the airside via the domestic bridge, an escalator ride takes them up through the mosaics conceptualized to suggest passage through a water line, as if entering the springs. Once ascended, passengers are flanked by two new 30-foot-long paintings on Level 6 that evoke immersion in the underwater world the artist knows so well.

“The paint marks on the canvas are at once testament and code for the drama, perplexity, surprise, and delight I feel and see when underwater,” says Tolbert. “There’s a part of me that wants to say, ‘I didn’t make this up!’”

Indeed, Tolbert’s artistic process and lifestyle involve countless hours spent at Florida springs,observing, experiencing, and documenting from above and within. One of the new paintings is based on Cannon Springs, a small springs on the Ocklawaha River that is only visible during the drawdowns on the Rodman Dam, when the water level drops enough to reveal the aquifer activity.

“It reveals frenzied and jubilant activity when the light hits it. Jets of sand and silt flow up from the force of the water pumping out of cave vents,” says Tolbert. “Bubbles of dissolved oxygen course through the springs. Long strands of vegetation lean in the current. We are all propelled by this current, the soundless force that we sense in this spring.”

The other large-scale addition captures a variety of underwater garden activity, Tolbert explains. “Long strands of eelgrass drift into the center panels of the painting, linking them together. Hints of the dark form of a manatee trawling underwater meadows are superseded by the turquoise of the water’s eye of the springs. Above, cypress seedlings and flower blossoms crowd to the surface. The warm colors of the karst rocks, which hold and transmit the water in the craters and pores, appear intermittently in the painting.”

Completing the installation, a colorful acrylic map on Level 4 highlights the Floridan Aquifer Springsheds & Springs water system and pinpoints locations of Central Florida springs.

“Margaret Tolbert’s expanded ‘Orlando Springs’ installation transforms Terminal C into a space that reflects the beauty, energy, and sense of place that make Central Florida so distinctive,” said Lance Lyttle, CEO, of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA), which operates Orlando International Airport. “As we continue to elevate the traveler experience, we are proud to showcase public art that welcomes our guests with a memorable connection to our region’s natural environment.”

Tolbert holds an MFA from the University of Florida and works primarily in oil and mixed media. Her work has appeared in the United States, Europe, and Asia as exhibits, installations, and commissions. She authored two books: Proje-SU (Water Project): Art Science Tradition and Myth from Ancient Water Cultures in Southwestern Turkey (2024) and AQUIFERious (2010).

In keeping with its foundational pillars of Customer Service, Community, Infrastructure, and People, GOAA continues its commitment to a model program of art in public spaces and values the enrichment that public art adds to the customer experience.

To uncover more of the magic and mystery of this installation, visit our YouTube Channel to hear from the artist Margaret Ross Tolbert.