Local artists add
to 9/11 memorial
By Chris Mac Kenzie
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE The judges are in, and a young, local artist has
earned the honor of representing Alpine in the Tiles for America
project. A nine-year-old boy, Alex Wells, designed and painted a
tile that will represent his community on the memorial wall being
erected in New York City at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th
Street, near the location of ground zero.
The wall is filled with more than 5,000 hand painted
memorial tiles honoring those who died in the horrific 9/11
attack.
Alex, a fourth grader at Boulder Oaks School, described
his tile and its meaning.
Its a peace tile, he said. I wrote the word PEACE
across the top. The Twin Towers are over the circle of the world
to show that we want to have peace everywhere.
His tile, with its blue background, white towers, and
greenery on the world sphere, was chosen as the winner among 14
local entries done by both adults and children, at the Fantastic
Ceramics Shop.
It was immediately sent to the sponsors of Tiles for
America to be mounted on the wall. Then a few days later a request
came for all the Alpine tiles to be sent on to be mounted on the
wall, which is becoming a real tourist attraction for visitors to
New York.
Alex and his teenage sisters, Ashley and Lauren, along
with their mother, have all enjoyed working at the craft shop,
creating attractive pieces of pottery for themselves or to use as
gifts.
The local artists include the following: Ashley, Lauren
and Alex Wells, Kerry Mayer-Foster. Sara Mills, Shannin Fullenger,
Alicia Oswald, Michelle Meyers, Megan Meyers, Krystal Simonetti,
Mary Manning, Ina Gould, Kylie McCarty and Ivan Estrada.
Each of tiles will be dedicated to and carry the name
of a victim who lost his life in the tragedy.
Robin Leo, owner of the shop, coordinated the local contest.
I had hoped to have even more people participating,
but it was rather short notice, she said.
Leo is contributing half the cost of each tile, $6.95,
covering the blank, the paint, glazing and firing, to the Sept. 11
Scholarship Alliance. This is the organization responsible for
coordinating funds for scholarships to assist the families of
those killed or disabled in the disaster.
Leo, who, as Robin Dawson was Miss Junior Alpine in
1984, plans to display colored photographs of each tile at the
Alpine Arts Festival on Sept. 30 in the Alpine Community Center
Park.
 
 
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