Community Corner
Sculptor of Brick 9/11 Statue Aims to Help in Healing
Brian Hanlon is a well-known sculptor who has been behind many charitable and spiritual projects
In the days surrounding Sept. 11 this year, many will find personal ways to reckon with the tragic events of a decade earlier. Some will travel to New York City, Washington D.C. or to a field in rural Pennsylvania to visit memorials established to honor those lives lost or changed forever on that day. But residents of Brick Township have a very special monument in their own backyard.
In , just off Princeton Avenue, they will find a statue titled, Angel in Anguish. Kneeling in a circular garden near the edge of the Metedconk River, this sorrowful bronze figure wraps her wings around a base etched with the image of the Twin Towers that is also engraved with the names of those individuals who never returned to their township homes on that fateful day: John Badagliacca, Robert P. Devitt, Brett Bailey, Michael Diehl, John Perconti, James Sands, Thomas Sgroi and Christopher M. Traina.
This moving tribute is the creation of Toms River-based sculptor Brian P. Hanlon, a talented Garden State native originally from Jersey City. A graduate of Holmdel High School, Hanlon obtained a B.A. in Art Education from Monmouth University, furthering his studies at Boston University with graduate-level classes in sculpture.
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A prolific sculptor, Hanlon’s wide-body of work includes a bronze Hawk dedicated at Monmouth University; a WWII soldier and six military base reliefs dedicated in Manchester; a police officer with a child and firefighter with a child bronze sculptures dedicated in Scranton Pennsylvania; and an Alexandra Tozzi bronze likeness dedicated at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
Hanlon told Brick Patch that one of the most rewarding aspects of creating memorial sculptures is, “Working with people [who] have suffered a tragedy and using my talent to create beautiful, meaningful works of art to assist in the healing process while educating and inspiring…”
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Angels in Anguish was funded by local residents and business owners who shared personal stories and photographs of their loved ones with Hanlon. The statue was inspired by a sculpture the artist saw in eastern Europe in a cemetery, and the name came to him after he met with those families.
Hanlon said the reaction to the Brick statute has been very positive.
“It is [my] most spiritual [creation] because it is used as a vehicle for people to heal and this is very satisfying as an artist.”
Soon To be added to Hanlon’s diverse and prestigious collection will be a Yogi Berra clay model sculpted for the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Montclair (to be dedicated in September), a Shaquille O’Neal clay model sculpted for LSU (which was dedicated Thursday), and a Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM, clay model, sculpted for East Rutherford, NJ (to be dedicated Spring 2012). Judge was a Catholic priest who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Editor's Note: To learn more about the work of Brian Hanlon you can visit his website at http://www.hanlonsculpture.com/
