“I love the saying, ‘sleep when you are dead.'”

Few embody it like Tommy Gregory—tireless artist, curator, and connector who seems to be everywhere at once, installing work, throwing receptions, or plotting the next show.

Gregory joined the Port of Seattle as senior project manager in 2019, just as airport art collections were gaining global recognition as extensions of a city’s cultural identity. Notably, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was the first U.S. airport with a permanent art collection, dating back to the ’60s. Its holdings expanded steadily thanks to a 1973 ordinance dedicating one percent of city capital-improvement funds to public art. In recent years, World Cup–driven expansion has supercharged that growth.

During his tenure at the Port of Seattle, Gregory has overseen an unprecedented wave of art calls and the fabrication of dozens of museum-scale commissions. Last year alone, the airport installed more than 70 works, including Julie Alpert’s panoramic, doodle-inspired Raindrops on Roses and Souvenirs, which bookend the newly-renovated North Main Terminal baggage claim, and Cosmic, a sky-high bank of screens in the Alaska Airlines ticketing area that feature a swirling digital orchard inspired by the Cosmic Crisp apples of Washington state, commissioned from world-renowned video artist, Jennifer Steinkamp.

Gregory’s curatorial endeavors don’t end when he clocks out at the airport. In the past two years, he developed a series of group shows exhibited in Texas and Seattle that foster the exchange of ideas across traditionally red and blue states, including Proof Through the Night, co-curated with Judith Rinehart and shown at her eponymous gallery. In his own neighborhood, Gregory hosts gatherings and exhibitions at the Space in Columbia City. In September, he helped organize a sprawling, two-part exhibition of text-based neon art made by more than 30 artists, Call It What It Is: A Neon Show of Banned Words. He’s also an artist himself, currently producing bronze and neon sculptures for a two-person show in San Antonio alongside paintings by his wife, Casey Arguelles Gregory.

“I’m always thinking, how do I want to experience my day?” says Gregory. “I love walking through neighborhoods when the cherry blossoms are out. I’m about those moments, and I’m always asking how I can use art to help create moments for other people. How do we make moments that will change your day?”