City of Somerville -- 9/11 Memorial

In August of 2002, I was asked to create a design for a bronze plaque that would commemorate both the events of 9/11 and the citizens of Somerville’s response to those events.  In the days following the 9/11 attacks, a spontaneous memorial of flowers, notes and candles had appeared on the raised marble and copper compass which sits in the middle of Davis Square in Somerville.  As winter approached these offerings were cleared, while the administration of Mayor Kelly Gay promised a more permanent tribute in that same spot.  The integration of something new into an existing piece guided my initial thoughts, along with a severely constrained city budget.  What can one add to a compass, and how do you make a plaque more then a flat panel.  The first answer addressed the second:  A working compass normally has a bezel or movable metal ring with an angled extension which moves around the points to define the direction you wish to take.  This lead to a design encompassing a plaque and a supporting stone which would sit on the edge of the raised compass and would in some way delineate Somerville’s reaction to a past event, and the resolve it held in moving forward beyond that event.  The stone with an angled surface, moves from four sides at its base to six sides at its crown and supports the plaque, which extends beyond the stone and contains the words Community, Service, Hope and Courage.