By Megan Cruz YNN
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.– “People have been patiently waiting,” said Joel Reed, executive director for Saratoga Arts.
But on Tuesday, the wait was over as Saratoga Springs’ 911 Memorial Sculpture leaves a steel shop in Gansevoort for its new home at High Rock Park.
“It’s perfect,” said Reed, who commissioned the project two years ago. “Couldn’t think of a better place for it.”
People say that now, but the decision to display it here wasn’t an easy one. That’s why the sculpture, titled “Tempered by Memory” and made of 5 steel beams from the World Trade Center, sat in storage for more than a year.
The original plan was to unveil it at the 10th anniversary of 9/11 out in front of the City Center.
“That’s a very high traffic area and so that appealed to us because we wanted the sculpture to have a central, visible place in the community,” said Reed.
But that suggestion was eventually scrapped, seven others considered, until finally, High Rock was given the okay.
“It turned out for the best,” said the sculpture’s co-artist John Van Alstine. “This site is wonderful – it’s a more contemplative site, it’s more park-like, more appropriate for the kind of memorial that this piece is.”
“Creating something beautiful from something that was horrible,” said Noah Savatt, the other artist.
Saratoga Springs’ Kim Lambert lost some of her college friends on 9/11. She said she’s thankful the sculpture’s finally on display.
“Just having places to honor their memories,” she said. “I haven’t felt comfortable to go down to the World Trade Center yet to that spot, so being able to come here and see something like this and see parts of that building within a sculpture and memorial is great.”
Reed said they still have to carve out pathways and do some landscaping at the site, but that all should be ready for a dedication ceremony this September.
