I will never forget the morning of 9/11. I woke up early that day and was enjoying the morning calm before it was time to wake the children and get them ready for school.
My office was on the 25th floor of Rockefeller Center in New York. It faced Saint Patrick's Cathedral. This poem reflects what I saw in the weeks following 9/11
Shortly after my retirement from the fire service --28 years as a firefighter I began a different career as a sculptor. My work has taken me through the use of a variety of media and finally settling on steel works which is my specialty.
"Juxtaposing abstract images and forms against an implied representational concept that invokes a parallel narrative is the definition of abstract narrative painting.
The original painting was acrylic medium on 24" x 36" canvas board. The scene captures a sight well known to the artist from the Brooklyn Promenade looking west to the Manhattan akyline.
When terrorism struck and many in the affected area of ground zero
abandoned their homes and businesses, artist Anthony Graviano
remained in his studio. On September 11, and for months thereafter,
I have been a resident of Yonkers for the past 23 years. I was born
at West Point, grew up in Ardsley, NY and attended The School of
Visual Arts in Manhattan. I also studied stained glass design at
Richard M. Greene, a nationally recognized artist, is an accomplished oil and
acrylic painter. He has received numerous national and international awards,
including the prestigious Salmagundi Club (New York City) 2004 National Acrylic
Creative writing has become the most effective way of expressing myself, accepting change, and experiencing grief. Although I was very young and far from the turmoil on September 11th, it is a day I can still see so clearly.
First I would like to offer my thanks for your extraordinary efforts in gathering together the memories, thoughts, dreams, fears, hopes and spirit of our collective American lives since that horrible day in September ten years ago.
Many people were effected by the events of 9/11. My story is about the survivors who lived near the collapse, how their lives were reoriented, and how, with hope,love and hard work, you can make lemonade from a lemon.
