Monthly Archives: August 2011

Times Union- 9-11 Sculpture

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Respectful RemembrancesSculpture for 9-11

August 30,
2011 at 7:20 pm by Dennis
Yusko

http://blog.timesunion.com/saratogaseen/respectful-remembrances/10393/

Artist
Michelle M. Vara has created a commemorative sculpture with steel from the
World Trade Center that will be permanently displayed inside the Wilton Fire
Department starting Sept. 11, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks.

Vara, of
Wilton, is completing the piece at her Ballard Road Art Studio. She calls the 50”
by 57” sculpture “Respectful Remembrances.” It seeks to unite and uplift, while
honoring the past. Firefighter Ray Baily acquired the metal, and brought it to
Vara.

“As an
artist, it is invigorating to have been given such an eminent opportunity,” she
said. “You can see the sever duress the iron has been through by the bends that
are in it. It encapsulates immense spirit and energy.”

8/30/11 Times Union Pg1

  The Wilton Fire Department wanted a piece
that everyone could touch and connect with. Vara incorporated an arched, rusted
piece of Angel iron – representing the escape from Manhattan on the Brooklyn
Bridge, the bending, but not breaking, of strength; a ¾-inch round down post,
intentionally bent, wavy and rusted; a small offshoot of ¼” flat stock; and the
circle – representing inexhaustible implications, unity, and all the forces
-medical, fire, rescue, military – that worked collectively.

“The
remembrance of life lost, given and shared, the innocents of a nation changed
and our troops on the front, even now, are also meant to be implied in the
overall of this piece,” the artist said.

Saratogian News- 911 Memorial Sculpture

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Twin Towers metal into Sculpture

911- metal sculpture "Respectful Remembrance"

“As an artist it is invigorating to
have been given such an eminent opportunity”…….

The sculpture piece I call “Respectful Remembrances” is
meant to reflect the unity of Americans’ in all walks of life, offering an
uplifting sense of healing and forward progression, on the home front horizon,
without forgetting the past.

911 Metal Sculpture

Twin Towers metal made into sculpture

Twin Towers metal made into sculpture911- metal sculpture "Respectful Remembrance"

The remembrance of life lost, given and shared, the innocents of a nation changed and our troops on the front, even now, are also meant to be implied in the over all of this piece.

In overwhelming gratitude, to Ray Baily For his trust……

miChelle M. Vara

911 metal sculpture

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“As an artist it is invigorating to have been given such an eminent opportunity”…….

The sculpture piece I call “Respectful Remembrances” is meant to reflect the unity of Americans’ in all walks of life, offering an uplifting sense of healing and forward progression, on the home front horizon, without forgetting the past.

 The remembrance of life lost, given and shared, the innocents of a nation changed and our troops on the front, even now, are also meant to be implied in the over all of this piece.

 In overwhelming gratitude, to Rick Bailey for his trust.

 miChelle M. Vara
http://ww.michellevara.com
Ballard Road Art Studio Gallery
Saratoga Sculpture Park
518-587-8706
Wilton NY 12831

SARATOGIAN NEWS -World Trade Center steel used

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World Trade Center steel used in
9/11 sculpture commissioned for Wilton Firehouse

By PAUL POST

ppost@saratogian.com

TEXT-

http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2011/08/27/news/doc4e59ac3b94549264710185.txt?viewmode=fullstory

VIDEO-

http://www.saratogian.com/video/?va_id=2794965&pl_id=21344&ref=synd

 Artist miChelle M. Vara stands next
to the 9/11 sculpture she crafted. It will be placed outside the Wilton
Firehouse. (PAUL POST/ppost@saratogian.com)

WILTON — A piece of steel beam from the World Trade Center is featured in a
9/11 memorial sculpture that will soon go on permanent display at the Wilton
Firehouse on Ballard Road.

Former Wilton Fire Department President Ray Bailey applied to receive a World
Trade Center artifact about 2-1/2 years ago.

To his surprise, earlier this summer it showed up in a box on his doorstep.

Then he contacted local artist miChelle M. Vara to use the piece in a sculpture
that pays tribute to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and those who lost their
lives.

Vara specializes in iron, metal and steel work at her Ballard Road art studio,
near the corner of Route 50 and Ballard Road.

Her completed work is full of symbolism.

“It’s small, but powerful,” she said. “I was completely thrilled to get this
opportunity.”

Two of the sculpture’s three legs are made from a piece of bent steel.

Vara said the piece represents the orderly, yet bizarre scene of countless
people walking home across Brooklyn Bridge on Sept. 11, 2001, after it was
closed to vehicles.

“That just captivated me and left a mark in my mind,” she said.

The bend in the piece symbolizes the dramatic change in history and people’s
idealism that occurred that day. The main piece of World Trade Center steel,
about 2 feet along, is partially bent, too.

Another leg of the sculpture is a wavy piece of steel that represents the
uncertainty about exactly what transpired.

“Nobody really knows the whole story,” Vara said. “There are a lot of different
takes on what happened.”

One leg has a small offshoot because “everybody had a different story, an idea
to share,” she said. “There’s all these fractional pieces.”

Vara force-rusted the sculpture’s legs to give them the same color as the World
Trade Center beam.

The one completely clean element is a circular piece that symbolizes the
clarity of purpose and American unity that was evident, not only on 9/11, but
in the weeks and months that followed.

“People from all walks of life joined hands to do a task,” she said. “We came
together as a country. It was the first time in New York City’s history that
neighbors were helping each other, sharing, pulling in one direction. People
came from all over the country to help.

The sculpture will be moved to the fire station. Details for a dedication
ceremony are still being worked out and will be announced soon, Bailey said.

 

POSTSTAR NEWS- Sept. 11 monument to be ready in time for anniversary

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911 Moument sculpture using World Trade center steel

Vara working on finish to be done in time for 9-11 Tribute

Post Star 8/27/2011
Read more: http://poststar.com/news/local/wilton-sept-monument-to-be-ready-in-time-for-anniversary/article_b3e45b74-d02b-11e0-82aa-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1WF7BhkTG

WILTON -
- When officials with the Wilton Fire Department received a long-awaited piece of the former World Trade Center, they weren’t exactly sure what to do with it.
So they took it to an artist.

Memorial sculpture for 911

“Respectful Remembrances.”

Michelle Vara, a sculptor in the town for 25 years, went to work on the twisted section of a steel I-beam the department had requested roughly four years ago.
“They said, ‘Use your judgment. Make it a sentence. Make it a statement,’” Vara said.
The sculpture – and the metals she added to it, each with its own meaning – will be displayed at the firehouse on Ballard Road in time for the coming 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
It’s smaller and less controversial than the towering metal sculpture Saratoga Springs officials recently backed away from displaying in front of City Hall.
Vara, who operates 6 Ballard Road Art Studio Gallery, said her piece has a different feel. She said it’s one of “positive retrospect,” and that she was drawn to the unity she saw after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Some really awesome things came out of an awful event,” she said. “The camaraderie of human existence is mind-blowing – how people took care of their neighbors.”
While most of the metal in the sculpture was deliberately rusted by Vara, one piece was not: a piece she bent into a circle. It stands out with a silver shine in the sculpture.
“The circle represents unity, how everyone came together and how people worked together – people from all walks of the Earth,” she said.
One of the legs is wavy and inconsistent with the others, which she said represents the questions that remain unanswered about the disaster.
Firefighter Ray Bailey, who requested the piece of metal years ago when he was the department’s president, got a glimpse of it for the first time Friday.
“I think it’s wonderful,” he said. “I think it’s very expressive, and I think she did a good job conveying the energy and the emotion.”
He said it was a meaningful coincidence that, after waiting years to find out if the department would receive the metal – and then a few more to actually get it – it arrived just months before the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
When it’s put on display, the department plans to incorporate a multimedia showing of a decade-old project called “Through the Eyes of a Child,” Bailey said. It consists of letters written by young children of firefighters in the department reflecting on the attacks shortly after they happened.
Many of the children who wrote those letters, Bailey said, are now firefighters.
Copyright 2011 The Post-Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
in Local on Friday, August 26, 2011

5:36 pm | Tags: Wilton, World Trade Center, September 11 Attacks, Michelle Vara, Wilton Fire Department, Ray Bailey, Sculptor, Ballard Road Art Studio Gallery,

Read more: http://poststar.com/news/local/wilton-sept-monument-to-be-ready-in-time-for-anniversary/article_b3e45b74-d02b-11e0-82aa-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1WF7SwW9y

Hamilton County Express news artical for “The Guide”

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Hamilton Conty NewsAdirondack Museum acquires new artwork
with an old flair

Aug 26th 2011

WILTON NY
- Artist miChelle M. Vara used the Adirondack Museum’s logo as inspiration for
“The Guide,” a one-of-a-kind sculpture designed and made specially for the
museum in Blue Mountain Lake.

The sculpture is intended to capture Adirondack history and the relationship
between the wilderness and a guide’s life.

It is 12 feet tall, 15 feet long and five feet wide. It is made with re-thought
metal, colored in translucent paint and finished with clear.

Vara has done many historical pieces using recycled metals, funded through grants and the private sector. She chooses
metal for its past history to tell a story by way of unconscious perception.

The sculpture was released to the museum July 30.

http://www.hamiltoncountyexpress.com/News/08242011_artwork

 

News Artical for Sculpture called "the Guide"

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Adirondack Museum acquires new artwork with an old flair

WILTON – Artist miChelle M. Vara used the Adirondack Museum’s logo as inspiration for “The Guide,” a one-of-a-kind sculpture designed and made specially for the museum in Blue Mountain Lake.
The sculpture is intended to capture Adirondack history and the relationship between the wilderness and a guide’s life.
It is 12 feet tall, 15 feet long and five feet wide. It is made with re-thought metal, colored in translucent paint and finished with clear.
Vara has done many historical pieces using recycled metals, funded through grants and the private sector. She chooses metal for its past history to tell a story by way of unconscious perception.
The sculpture was released to the museum July 30.
http://www.hamiltoncountyexpress.com/News/08242011_artwork
http://ww.michellevara.com
Ballard Road Art Studio Gallery
Saratoga Sculpture Park
518-587-8706
Wilton NY 12831

Reception- Aug 26th, “NEW YORK Narratives”

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Juried Exhibit “NEW YORK NARRATIVES”
Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center, Glens Falls NY

Jurried Exhibit in compliment to the Hyde Collection’s
“New York, New York”the 20th Century~
Reception: Friday August 26th, 5-7pm
Show ends- September 23rd 2011

Snacks & Music by: Jonathan Newell

http://ww.michellevara.com
Ballard Road Art Studio Gallery
Saratoga Sculpture Park
518-587-8706
Wilton NY 12831

World Trade Center Steel used in 9-11 Scupture

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 Saratogian

World Trade Center steel used in 9/11 sculpture commissioned for Wilton Firehouse
By PAUL POST
ppost@saratogian.com
TEXT-http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2011/08/27/news/doc4e59ac3b94549264710185.txt?viewmode=fullstory
VIDEO-

http://www.saratogian.com/video/?va_id=2794965&pl_id=21344&ref=synd

WILTON — A piece of steel beam from the World Trade Center is featured in a 9/11 memorial sculpture that will soon go on permanent display at the Wilton Firehouse on Ballard Road.

Former Wilton Fire Department President Ray Bailey applied to receive a World Trade Center artifact about 2-1/2 years ago.

To his surprise, earlier this summer it showed up in a box on his doorstep.

Then he contacted local artist miChelle M. Vara to use the piece in a sculpture that pays tribute to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and those who lost their lives.

Vara specializes in iron, metal and steel work at her Ballard Road art studio, near the corner of Route 50 and Ballard Road.

Her completed work is full of symbolism.

“It’s small, but powerful,” she said. “I was completely thrilled to get this opportunity.”

Two of the sculpture’s three legs are made from a piece of bent steel.

Vara said the piece represents the orderly, yet bizarre scene of countless people walking home across Brooklyn Bridge on Sept. 11, 2001, after it was closed to vehicles.

“That just captivated me and left a mark in my mind,” she said.

The bend in the piece symbolizes the dramatic change in history and people’s idealism that occurred that day. The main piece of World Trade Center steel, about 2 feet along, is partially bent, too.

Another leg of the sculpture is a wavy piece of steel that represents the uncertainty about exactly what transpired.

“Nobody really knows the whole story,” Vara said. “There are a lot of different takes on what happened.”

One leg has a small offshoot because “everybody had a different story, an idea to share,” she said. “There’s all these fractional pieces.”

Vara force-rusted the sculpture’s legs to give them the same color as the World Trade Center beam.

The one completely clean element is a circular piece that symbolizes the clarity of purpose and American unity that was evident, not only on 9/11, but in the weeks and months that followed.

“People from all walks of life joined hands to do a task,” she said. “We came together as a country. It was the first time in New York City’s history that neighbors were helping each other, sharing, pulling in one direction. People came from all over the country to help.

The sculpture will be moved to the fire station. Details for a dedication ceremony are still being worked out and will be announced soon, Bailey said.