Township Council choses a modern, geometric sculpture for the municipal’s Sept. 11 memorial.
By: Melissa Hayes
The Remembrance Fountain was selected as the Sept. 11 memorial by the Township Council Tuesday night.
The sculpture will be placed outside of the municipal complex to the left of the main entrance when facing the building.
The piece was one of 28 submissions made by artists, sculptors and landscape designers. The South Brunswick Commission on the Arts was seeking ideas for a memorial to recognize the events of Sept. 11, and their impact on South Brunswick, which lost three residents to the attacks.
The Remembrance Fountain is a modern, geometric work made of three interlocking pieces of granite. The pieces of granite are meant to represent the three South Brunswick residents killed in the attacks.
According to the artist’s submission, "The forms are intertwined in unity and remembrance." The reflecting pool is meant to represent the community.
Three benches will be placed around the sculpture, one for each of the victims from South Brunswick who died during the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The mayor and council authorized the arts commission and they advertised that we were looking for submissions for a 9/11 memorial here in South Brunswick," said Ron Schmalz, public relations for the township. We had 28 submissions, they narrowed it down to five for the past month we had them posted here in the municipal building."
Artists’ sketches of the five finalists from the 28 entries that were excepted have been on display in the municipal complex for the past few weeks and the public was invited to share their feelings on the work.
Councilman Ted Van Hessen said that in reading over the 22 public comments the council received, some people really liked the fountain and others really disliked it.
"It’s an eye of the beholder thing," he said.
Mr. Van Hessen referred to a geometric sculpture in San Francisco near the Embarcadero. He said that it is a piece that makes people stop and think and that is what he thought of when he saw the plans for the Remembrance Fountain.
"They would all catch my eye," he said of the five finalists. "But the one that would make me stop to think is number two."
Councilwoman Carol Barrett said she knew this was the work she would choose from the very beginning.
"From the first moment that I saw it I was struck by it," she said. "There’s just something about it that makes me have this feeling."
Mayor Frank Gambatese said this would be the most challenging work of art to maintain because of the water feature.
"We don’t want it to become and international bird bath for Central Jersey," he said.
In order to keep water in the fountain clear, it would be hooked up to the municipal building so that it could easily be drained and refilled, he said.
It would be costly to maintain and the council is looking into whether they would be able to power it through solar energy, Mayor Gambatese said.
Councilman Ed Luciano chose favored a different entry "simply because of its understatement." This piece depicted the two towers with a dove connecting them. Mr. Luciano said he would have liked it even more if the two towers were water elements.
The sculpture is being paid for completely by donations.
Township Manager Matt Watkins said $50,000 has already been pledged from corporations that are sponsoring the three benches. Community members can purchase commemorative bricks, which will create a walkway leading up to the sculpture at $100 a brick, to help fund the project.
The fund raising will begin in February and run through April 15, he said.
The sculpture and site should be completed in August and the dedication will take place on Sept. 11, 2005.