Collage

September 11, 2001

Description

Triptych collage painting titled September 11, 2001 by Ann Bregman-Rascoe. The triptych is composed of three matted and framed watercolor/collage artworks on Arches watercolor paper with various collage elements incorporated into each painting.

In the first painting, watercolor paint in bright orange, red, and yellow represent the fires. Blue and gray represent the dust and smoke. A small candle is embedded into the piece to represent light and hope.

In the second painting, cut-up photos of people, furniture, and personal belongings are composed in a grid to represent the tangled steel at Ground Zero and the entrapment of the victims.

In the third painting, similar to the first, watercolor paint in bright orange, red, and yellow represent the fires. Blue and gray represent the dust and smoke. A small candle is embedded into the piece to represent light and hope.

Historical Notes

Born in 1932, Ann Bregman-Rascoe is an artist and educator. The collage triptych titled the September 11, 2001 was created within the first days after the attacks, when Bregman-Rascoe resided in Pittsburgh. That Tuesday morning, she had the television on when breaking news from New York City interrupted the scheduled broadcast. Shock immediately glued her to the unfolding footage. The impact of the day’s events ultimately compelled her to create an artistic response. She devoted time to “cutting and tearing up pictures of people, furniture, lamps and other trappings” from the familiar-material universe to represent the brutal reality of the attacks in a collage. Bregman-Rascoe displayed the resulting triptych at an exhibition she and her husband Eric helped to organize for the first-year anniversary of September 11th presented at the Mt. Lebanon Public Library in suburban Pittsburgh. The exhibition was titled “Reflections: September 11, 2001.” Recruiting the library and area news media to assist, they invited the community to participate in making their own art, resulting in paintings, fabric art, essays, poetry, and music by people of all ages.