Community Corner

The Maplewood Artist Who Brought Healing Post 9/11

Valerie Rhatigan's mural — which adorns Maplewood Fire Engine 33 — comforted many in the aftermath of September 11.

On September 11, 2001, Valerie Rhatigan was the proprietor of Val's Art Studio on Maplewood Avenue.

Rhatigan says that when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in the fields of Shanksville, Pa, "an explosion of anger, sadness and heightened patriotism came over me."

Being an artist, Rhatigan dealt with her feelings the best way she knew how.

"I bought a 40 x 60 canvass and started to sketch. Taking hints and advice from my husband Greg and friends, as to placement and content, the picture began to emerge. A week long drawing frenzy began. I took the Statue of Liberty, the image of Iwo Jima, a policeman, the three firefighters and three American flags to display patriotism."

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Rhatigan put the unframed image in the large front window of her studio in Maplewood Village.

As a result, "People came into my studio just to talk, vent and relay sad stories they had experienced or heard concerning that awful day. I wanted to frame the piece with a fire hose which was donated to me by a Nutley, N.J. firefighter. The frame was completed when another firefighter, from Springfield, N.J., donated a hose nozzle."

"At that point in time I realized this picture wasn't just a drawing," said Rhatigan. "I was told that the picture brought comfort to people who needed it. One woman gave a print to her father as a Christmas present. Her father, a retired firefighter, cried when he saw the print. I will always remember the effect the print had on people. I have notes from people telling me how emotional it was to have a print of my picture in their home. The prints were given as gifts to friends and family throughout the United States and were even sent to other places overseas. A New Jersey car dealership had one of the prints displayed on an easel which was roped off in a showroom."

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Rhatigan took prints of the original drawing to New York City and personally delivered them to the firehouses where the three firemen depicted were assigned. "I met with the firemen on duty who described their experiences of September 11 including their losses." She also met then-Senator Jon Corzine, while he as in Maplewood and gave him a print which he said he would hang in his office in Washington, DC.

(Rhatigan did initially sell copies of the image, giving 50% of revenues to 9/11 widow's funds and using the remainder to cover costs, but she stopped selling the image when she received a cease and desist letter from the lawyers of the photographer whose famous image of Ground Zero was the inspiration of the center of Rhatigan's drawing. Rhatigan paid the equivalent of the profits she earned to the photographer: $2,280. Now Rhatigan just gives away prints of the drawing for free. "It was never about money," said Rhatigan.)

On the night of September 11, 2001, Rhatigan had an art class for teenagers scheduled. "I had to make a decision whether to cancel or hold class as usual." Rhatigan contacted a few parents who urged her to hold the class and not cancel.

"It actually turned out to be the best decision for all of us. Art sometimes has a therapeutic affect on the people who create it and that night was no exception. The kids got into their own art, some quietly and some talkative, trying to make sense of what happened that morning."

After Rhatigan's photo with the drawing appeared in a Patch photo gallery last week, one of those students contacted Rhatigan via email. She wrote:

Congrats Val! I can't believe its been 10 years. I still remember that piece and all the ones we did at your studio following 9/11. Mine was a dog sleeping with an American flag blanket over it — still framed and hanging at my grandmother's house in India!

Finally, Dennis Carragher, who was a Captain of the Maplewood Fire Department back on Sept. 11, 2001, asked Rhatigan to paint something pertaining to 9/11 to be displayed on a new fire truck several years ago.

"I was moved and honored to help. I decided to have a decal of my 9/11 piece put on the new truck. Every time the truck passed my house on Ridgewood Terrace, they would sound the siren. Sometimes while inside I would hear the whoop whoop and just grin from ear to ear."

Ultimately, Rhatigan says, the power of the piece has little to do with her skill as an artist — which she dismisses as middling — but with its content.

"This piece of art took on a life of its own. As you can see, I am extremely proud of this God Bless America - 9/11 picture. I have saved every note I have received in response to this piece and will pass them on to my children and grandchildren, so they too will never forget."


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