Ryan Carter
GLENDALE -- Glendale artist Pomm never thought her painting, "Unspoken
Courage," would hang proudly on a New York City Fire Department memorial
wall.
"I had no idea," she said. "I was just painting from my heart."
But on Dec. 16, Pomm, 46, presented two prints of her piece to New
York Fire Department Chief of Training NicholasJ. Santangelo as part of a
department ceremony.
One print hangs on the memorial wall at Randall's Island Firefighting
Academy, while another is at the department's headquarters in Brooklyn,
said Fire Department Deputy Commissioner Stephan Hittman.
The painting depicts a New York firefighter with two children against
an American flag waving in the background.
"We love it," Hittman said as he reflected on the piece. "And we're
proud to have it."
Pomm vows to spread the message she hoped to convey in the painting.
"It's supposed to represent the courage that these firefighters have
built in their heart, and the unity that came about because of this
tragedy," she said.
Burbank and Glendale fire departments have already received prints.
Pomm went to New York a week after the attacks to help volunteers at a
Church of Scientology mission, blocks away from the World Trade Center
rubble, in efforts to aid rescue workers.
But organizers asked her to paint a mural. As she painted, church
workers, fresh from the rubble, told Pomm about what they saw. That
inspired Hepner's paintings, which she created once she got back to her
Glendale studio, she said.
Department brass saw the art and the dedication was organized, Pomm
said.
"I just wanted as many people as possible to feel what I felt when I
painted it," Pomm said.
