ARTIST BRONNA BUTLER BRINGS
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ARTIST BRONNA BUTLER BRINGS |
| NEW YORK - For a moment on September 11th Bronna Butler wished she were a nurse. Then she wished she were a construction worker who could wield a big shovel and dig. Then she wished she could operate big excavation equipment that could dig even faster. And then, dismissing the fantasies of being able to rescue people from the rubble of the fallen twin towers of the World Trade Center, she picked up a tool that she was very comfortable with, a tool she had spent years mastering. |
| She picked up her paint brush. |
| Butler, a much-sought-after portrait painter from Mountainside, New Jersey, desperately wanted to do something to help victims of the terrorist attack. Her heart especially went out to the relatives of people whose loved ones had been mercilessly trapped in the buildings, beyond any hope of rescue. |
| She could not bear the thought of relatives living the rest of their lives with unpleasant images of their precious lost one's last moments on earth. She decided to replace that horrific image with another image, this time an image of her own creation. |
| "I just decided to paint what can't be seen," Butler explained. "My goal was to supply an image so strong that it would replace any bad images people might have in their minds. The message of the painting is that even though our loved ones, the heroes and heroines were not rescued as we had hoped, they were rescued." |
| When she laid down the first smudge of paint on the canvas, Butler had no idea that the painting would eventually become an important point of comfort for grieving relatives at the Pier 94 Family Assistance Center. |
| The spiritual figure whose strong hand grasps the hand of an ephemeral half-visible person to pull the person up and out is intentionally vague. |
| "I don't know who the spiritual figure is," Butler muses. "But whoever looks at it will always know." |
| The strong handclasp that anchors the middle of the painting evokes yet stronger images for the firemen who wait patiently at Pier 94 for widows of fellow firefighters to come to the assistance center for help. |
| "I brought this firefighter's family over to see your painting yesterday," explains a fireman, sidling up to Butler to tell his story. "They were just tormented thinking about his last minutes, so I brought them over here and said, 'Look at this carefully. This is how he spent his last minutes; he was saved by a grab'. They understood that. It really helped them." |
| For firemen, the handclasp is not just hands joining for rescue; it is a "grab." It is pulling someone out of a fire who otherwise would perish in the flames. |
| With the courage of people who know they are doing the right thing, Butler and her husband drove to midtown Manhattan to Pier 94 where all the agencies assembled as a Family Assistance Center. It is here that families seek financial assistance for the essentials of temporal life as well as emotional assistance for the solace that troubled hearts long for. |
| "I couldn't believe how brave she was to just come to the door of that huge place and tell the police that she was here to donate her painting," said Susan Kessler, the American Red Cross disaster relief worker who was called to the door to greet the woman who showed up, unannounced, with a painting under her arm. |
| Kessler, like many others after that, was moved by both the subject matter of the painting as well as people's reactions to its powerful message of hope. |
| The painting is displayed on an easel at the edge of the family dining room. Butler herself sits many days beside the painting, signing and personalizing postcard reproductions that she provides at her own expense. |
| Family members gravitate toward the empty chair beside her. As artist and griever sit hunched toward each other facing the painting, words tumble from tormented minds and quiet confidences are exchanged. Butler strains to hear every word so as not to miss a single syllable of the sad stories of lost loved ones, lost dreams, and lost happiness. |
| Butler donated her painting to the American Red Cross. She also donated postcard reproductions for families. People may write to her email address: The Rescue@att.net. Butler has the image on a web site for downloading: http://home.att.net/~the.rescue/rescue.html. |
| Butler seems uneasy being praised for either her artistic talent or her generosity. She is quick to say that she has received much more than she has given. |
| She has given a great gift to families who lost someone. She has given, from her heart to theirs, peace of mind. |
| And she did it all with one simple tool, her paint brush. |
| Susan Kessler can be contacted at her email address: skessler@intrex.net |