We Draw Strength From Each Other

LMT Veterans Square Labor Day Groundbreaking (5:30 pm) and Concert (6 pm) - Mon., Sept. 5th

Featuring the Pennsbury Community Band - Veterans Square Park, corner of Edgewood and Heacock Roads, Lower Makefield, Pennsylvania

Please plan to cap off your summer at our First Annual Labor Day concert at Veterans Square Park. The event is free, but we definitely need the community’s help to build Veterans Square Monument, and honor those who bravely serve, and have served our country. We will gladly accept purchases of Freedom Pavers so residents and businesses can be a permanent part of the monument. We have beautiful and whimsical eagles to auction off that were painted by the Artists of Yardley – replicas of the bronze eagle that will grace the monument, and are currently on display all over Lower Makefield and Yardley. There will be lovely basket raffles, 50/50’s and food and drinks available to purchase.

We want to make this monument and park an uplifting gathering place for our community to come together and honor those who served our country, and made it possible for us to live the lifestyle we live today. Please join us in support on Labor Day – bring family and friends and a chair or blanket for a pleasant evening. Consider purchasing a Freedom Paver with family, neighbors, your son or daughter’s school, boy or girl scout troop, local sports team, community group, or religious organization.

Please see the attached flyers for details and come join us! Email us with your guesses of the 12 “Eagle Sightings” around town for a chance to win prizes - info@VeteransSquare.org.

Kind Regards,
The LMT Veterans Committee
www.VeteransSquare.org
Honor – Celebrate - Educate

Please don't go...

Girandola at New York State Museum

For Immediate Release

June 22, 2011

New York State Museum in Albany, New York received into their permanent collection “Remnants of a Memorial” by 9/11 sculptor Robert Girandola of Yardley, Pennsylvania.

On Thursday June 9, 2011 Craig Williams, Curator of History, at the New York State Museum met acclaimed sculptor and painter Robert Girandola at Engine 6 in New York City to take receipt of his work “Remnants of a Memorial.” This 60” x 60” mixed media masterpiece started as the “under-drawing” for Girandola’s bronze memorial, currently installed in New York City on Beekman Street. Both works honor four firefighters from Engine 6 who lost their lives rescuing others on 9/11. Williams and his team collected over three hours of raw footage interviewing firefighters from Engine 6, one of the widows and Girandola, detailing the eight-month journey from concept to delivery of the bronze memorial. “It was a very moving day,” Girandola describes. “From the moment in early May when Mark Schaming (Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs) and Craig Williams saw the work “Remnants of a Memorial” they knew they wanted it to be part of their 9/11 exhibit up in Albany.” The piece is intended to reside near The State Museum’s significant collection of material from the World Trade Center and objects from the international response to the events of September 11, 2001, which tells the story of that day and its aftermath. The World Trade Center: Rescue, Recovery, Response details the history of the World Trade Center, the September 11 attacks, the rescue efforts, the evidence recovery operation at the Fresh Kills facility, and the public response to the September 11th events. The exhibition includes many objects, images, videos, and interactive stations documenting this tragic chapter in New York and America's history. “For me,” Girandola continues “Remnants of a Memorial” is a counterpoint to the bronze that now hangs in New York City. Whereas the bronze symbolizes the strength of the firefighter’s courage, “Remnants” speaks to their soul, to what we lost that day and to the devastation of the living. I am honored that this will be on permanent display to help contribute to their (NY State Museum) amazing collection”

New York State Museum plans to edit the raw footage of all the interviews to present the video as part of an interactive display alongside the mixed media masterpiece “Remnants of a Memorial.” For further information please contact Mark Schaming, Director Of Exhibitions & Public Programs at 3023 Cultural Education Center, Albany, New York, 12230 e-mail: mschamin@mail.nysed.gov or Craig Williams, Curator of History, e-mail: cwillia4@mail.nysed.gov . Go here for more information on the New York State Museum permanent exhibit The World Trade Center: Rescue, Recovery, Response: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/exhibits/longterm/wtc/

Robert Girandola is a painter and sculptor with an MFA from Columbia University. He has exhibited and has been collected both nationally and internationally including twice being accepted into the prestigious “Art of the Northeast” in New Canaan, Connecticut. He is currently the sculptor for the Lower Makefield Veteran’s Monument in Lower Makefield, PA. He can be contacted by e-mail: info@robertgirandola.com. More work by the artist can be seen at http://www.robertgirandola.com .

Freedom

Freedom comes in many forms. It is the ability to live without the threat of violence. It is the ability to make decisions and endure the consequences. It is the choice to follow your dream. No matter what the form, freedom is not free. Freedom requires those who drink from it, to commit to it.

I walked with my mother the other night. We walked the length of three hallways, maybe three hundred feet. Each step was an expression of someone committed to freedom. My mother, you see, fresh on the heels from recovering from breast cancer now completed major surgery for gall bladder cancer. Each step, you see, was one more step she had to take towards freedom. We spoke for a while and what she made clear to me was she wasn't afraid to die. She has been an educator her whole adult life and she looked me in the eye and told me her dream was to see her magazine dedicated to education, Spigot Science, become a self-sustaining reality. She told me the irony was she was afraid of success. She felt unworthy of it. She explained, every step she took closer to her dream, she felt her body struggle against it. First with the breast cancer, now with the gall bladder. As we walked, she motioned as if her body was being ripped with shrapnel and leaving parts of itself as she refused to stop.

I smiled and shared thoughts of my sculpture with her. "Freedom" is an eagle that is intended to grace the Lower Makefield Veteran's Monument. During the making of it, I experienced many technical difficulties. One of which was the failure of a mold. After I made a pour, my eagle "Freedom" came out rittled and torn, as if it had flown straight through all the shrapnel one could throw at it. The amazing part to me was, it still held that sense of intensity. "Freedom" held, for me, a feeling that it was not going to stop, regardless of the obstacles life held. "Freedom" at that moment, was personified for me in my mother - walking those three hundred feet, talking about her dream with the intensity of a teenager. This Memorial Day, I dedicate this piece to you Mom.

Thank you to all the armed services who fight every day so people like my mom and I can pursue our dreams. Thank you to the firefighters like the men of Engine 6 who act without hesitation to protect our dreams. Thank you to all the health care workers, those countless angels who work every day to help us live one more.

We Love Life - 25 Artists

Artist Matt LeBlanc created the Matt LeBlanc Art for Life Campaign last year to raise awareness and much-needed funds for the Tree of Hope Campaign, an annual event by the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont Hospital Foundation in Moncton (Canada). The campaign was a huge success -- he raised a grand total of $38,000 for the foundation. You can read about last year’s campaign and see some amazing art at MattLeBalncArt.com

As a way to kick off his awareness effort this year, Matt spent the last two months putting together an international array of 24 other artists from North America and as far away as Australia. The idea is simple -- each artist answers one question: Why do you paint? The video is a collection of answers from these artists. The video ends with a powerful message:

Painting is life.

We love to paint and we love life.

We are all artists and we are all for finding a cure for cancer.

'You Do Something To Me'

Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament

Come help support the project I'm sculpting for!

The Lower Makefield Veterans Committee is holding a Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament fundraiser on Sat., Feb. 26th at 7 pm. The event will be held at the American Legion Post #317, 215 S. Main St., Yardley.

The cost is $75 which includes 5,000 tournament chips and food. For those who pre-register, they’ll receive an extra 2,000 chips for FREE. There will be a cash bar. Doors open at 5:30 pm. FREE at table massages courtesy of the Floral Vale SPA.

To Pre-Register send an e-mail to Tournament@VeteransSquare.org or by contacting the tournament hot line at 267-566-2056. More information can be found on www.VeteransSquare.org

The LMT Veterans Monument will honor veterans of the past, present and future
in a peaceful park setting where the community can gather for public events or
come on their own. We also hope to educate the children of our community
about the sacrifices made by our service men women.

Have fun with friends while supporting the veterans’ monument!

Honor – Celebrate - Educate

Regards,

The LMT Veterans Committee

2nd Annual Veteran's Monument Fundraiser

BE A PART OF LMT VETERANS SQUARE MONUMENT AND
JOIN US FOR OUR 2nd ANNUAL FUNDRAISER AND HELP US REACH $100,000!

We’re already at $90,000!

Featuring Bill Clement, NHL and Flyers Player for 11 years

Thur., April 7, Yardley Inn, 7 to 9 pm

Bill Clement is also an actor and motivational speaker and will discuss the Flyers season, upcoming playoffs, and answer questions. A special menu will be provided, courtesy of Chef Eben Copple. There will be music, basket raffles, and silent auction items including merchandise from the Flyers and the
Phillies, a special bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, a limited edition print by local sculptor Robert Girandola of the 9/11 bronze memorial plaque he created for NYC engine co. 6 in honor of the 4 firefighters lost that day, and much more. Robert is sculpting a life-size bronze eagle for the monument.

Suggested Ticket Donation $45 for adults; children 12 and under $22.50. Tickets will be available via our website http://www.VeteransSquare.org or via check made out to LMT Veterans Committee and mailed to 1100 Edgewood Rd., Yardley; and at the Yardley Inn. For more information, please call 267-274-1195 or email info@VeteransSquare.org. This promises to be a fun-filled evening!

JOIN OUR STEPPING STONE CAMPAIGN

TO BE A PERMANENT PART OF YOUR COMMUNITY MONUMENT

Help us honor veterans of the past, present and future in a peaceful park setting where residents can gather with family, friends and neighbors for public events or on their own. Help us educate the children of our community about the sacrifices made by our service men and women. The site is Veterans Square Park on the corner of Edgewood and Heacock Roads.

Purchase a brick or granite paver with the name of your family, business, a veteran or a loved one –Visit our website http://www.VeteransSquare.org or call 267-274-1195, or mail a donation to the LMT Veterans
Committee, 1100 Edgewood Rd., Yardley, PA 19067.

Honor – Celebrate – Educate

'My Father's Field'

This piece is 5' high by 6' wide and will be the culmination of many of my techniques. It will include both oil and acrylic and mixed media. A landscape that touches on my childhood memories as well as adult themes of awakening and the dream state.