Cynthia Graham, secretary of the Haverhill Firefighting Museum, and James H. Graham, president, during a recent Haverhill City Council discussion of the planned memorial.
The Haverhill Firefighting Museum has chosen artist Maria Fontaine’s design for its 9/11 Memorial Sculpture, which will be unveiled at a Community Memorial Service Sunday, Sept. 11, the 15th anniversary of the attacks on New York City, Washington and Shanksville, Penn.
Fontaine has been a visual arts teacher in Haverhill Public Schools for many years, as well a mixed media artist and jewelry designer. She has exhibited her work in juried shows and galleries, including a solo show at the Pentucket Arts Center, and shows at Salem Arts Center in conjunction with exhibitions at the Peabody Essex Museum and the 30 Rooms Exhibit in NYC. Maria and her sister, Elissa Dawson painted two of the shoes in the first Soles of Haverhill project, including the Queen Slipper City Shoe in front of City Hall.
The permanent sculpture will sit in front of the Kenoza Avenue museum, and be perpetually illuminated, honoring first responders who lost their lives that day. It will be inscribed with the names of heroic fire, police and emergency medical personnel.
Inside the museum, the exhibit, “Through the Eyes of a First Responder,”chronicling the days” events from the perspective of those brave men and women who served and perished, will open.
An online fundraising page has been established at https://www.gofundme.com/86b5mv4k to seek donations to pay for the memorial.