Reflecting back on a different kind of journey - Remember 9-11 Tenth Year

Leoma with Honor Guard at SW FL Intern''l Airport 

When you get to know me better, you’ll discover that I am very patriotic. Very, very patriotic.

Five years ago neared the end of a very different artistic journey for me. As the tenth anniversary of 9-11 was approaching, there was a  need for members of this community to personally express their pent-up and as yet unresolved emotions regarding the losses we Americans had suffered on that truly terrible day.

So I called a press conference at Southwest Florida International Airport, arranged for an honor guard, invited some people, and extended an invitation to area residents and visitors to paint the names of the more than 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks on a 10 by 18 foot canvas that would turned into a commemorative artwork during a ceremony taking place at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

To give as many people as possible a chance to participate in this community-wide and community-based art project, an ambitious 12-week tour was launched.  The canvas was taken to events at the Franklin Shops on First during July’s Art Walk and the Red, White and Boom in Cape Coral on July 4th. The reception was overwhelming. Many, many tears were shed. So many tears.

Painting victims names at The Franklin Shops 

After that, we (husband, Mike Silberg)  went to Naples’ Dennison-Moran Gallery (August 7), Fox 4 Morning Blend (August 12), Iberia Bank in Cape Coral (August 12), Sam Galloway Ford in Fort Myers (August 13), The Shell Factory (August 14), Fort Myers Fire Station No. 6 on Veronica Shoemaker (August 18), Hotel Indigo in the River District (August 20), Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens in Sanibel (August 21), Sip and Send in Cape Coral (August 25 and 26), Bubba’s Roadhouse in Cape Coral and the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on September 11th.

The canvas hangs at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre for guests to view as they enter the theatre 

Painting the names of 9-11 Victims 

                                                                                                  



A surprisingly large number of those who turned out lost a friend or family member in the attacks. Some people came with a list of names of people they’d lost. So the names of some of the victims were been painted twice, but we didn’t care. And those who selected names at random from a glass bowl often forged bonds with the person whose name they chose. They’d go home and Google the person’s name to learn more about him or her.

The plan for the mammoth canvas was to serve as the underpainting for an American eagle that I was going to engraft over during a Paint Out Loud performance at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on September 11. Leaving the ghost of the names show through. But over the course of the weeks spent traveling with the canvas and meeting people who lost friends and relatives during the attacks and seeing how people reacted while painting victims' names on the canvas, well, the names became so sacred that I just couldn't paint over them. While the 9/11 victims will always be part of the fabric of America, they also deserved a canvas of their own. So a separate painting of an American eagle was painted instead and, thus, one commemorative became two.

"Remember 9-11 Tenth Year"

                                                                                          The American Eagle painted live during Remembering 9-11- Tenth Year event now hangs in the library at Florida Gulf Coast University. It’s part of their permanent portable works collection and serves as a reminder of the fragility of life and the heroism of all those who took action that day in American history.

FGCU Library

In spite of our too-often polarized politics, all Americans are bound together by love of flag, love of country and love of our fellow country men and women. And so it is my hope and desire that from its perch high above the library floor, Remember 9-11 Tenth Year will inspire students for years to come to dedicate themselves to compassion, community and country.

The canvas with the victims’ names will be included in my retrospective in January at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in the downtown Fort Myers River District.

CLICK HERE for a U-Tube video on the making of the canvas containing the names of the more than 3,000 9-11 victims.

Click Here for a complete list of names for more than 3000 9-11 victims. The photos explain the colors used on the Canvas.