ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE GIVES
BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
PAINTING ABOUT SEPTEMBER 11
Since September 11, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), which is situated next to Ground Zero, has received many gifts and expressions of support from community college students and faculty members across the country.
Now, in addition to cards, letters, and contributions raised through bake sales and car washes, the Borough of Manhattan Community College has received a six-foot-tall painting. Students in an art appreciation class at Northwest Arkansas Community College created the painting as a class project.
“We are very touched by this thoughtful, creative, and wonderful gift,” said BMCC President Antonio Pérez. “It is a very moving painting with many layers of meaning.”
The painting, 11 September, was born when Tom Edwards, an art instructor at Northwest Arkansas Community College, asked his art appreciation class to respond to the events of September 11 in art. Edwards said that when he paints, he will typically “coat the primed canvas with a thick layer of acrylic gesso and make a drawing using my fingers or various tools.” To make September 11, he asked his students to draw in the gesso, which was then allowed to dry for several days. “Their instructions were to make a relevant statement of their response to the events of 11 September,” he said.
Edwards describes the painting, as “layered with images. From a distance one sees the larger image of flag and fire and the obfuscated Statue of Liberty but upon closer examination the viewer will see layers of subtext drawn in the gesso by students.”
Perez concurred. “This is such a rich painting. Every time you look at it, you see something new.”
