Sculptor Erik Blome Reflects On Creating Metra Station 9/11 Memorial At Oak Lawn Library

OAK LAWN, IL—Twenty-five years after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, and fifteen years after the dedication of the 9/11 memorial at Oak Lawn-Patriot Meta Station, the Oak Lawn Public Library will host the artist who created the magnificent sculpture Thursday, Aug. 20.

Internationally known sculptor Erik Blome will reflect on creating “Heralds of 9/11,” incorporating beams from the fallen towers, and show other examples of his work during a reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Oak Lawn Public Library, 9427 S. Raymond, Ave.

In the days immediately following the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Oak Lawn police officers and firefighters traveled to assist the beleaguered New York City first responders where 343 firefighters and 72 police officers died responding to the World Trade Center attacks.

Some of those same Oak Lawn first responders went back to New York to escort four beams from the fallen towers back to Oak Lawn, which arrived Dec. 17, 2010.

Retired OLPD emergency communications coordinator, Lt. Art Clark, was the inspiration behind building a memorial to the first responders who died that day on Sept. 11, 2001. Clark learned that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was granted permission by the courts to make pieces of the wreckage available to communities for 9/11 memorials nationwide. Until then, the wreckage was considered evidence from a crime scene. A few weeks after escorting the beams to Oak Lawn, Clark, a colonel in the Marine Reserves, left for a tour of Afghanistan.

Blome, whose works can be found throughout the world, was commissioned in the spring of 2011 to create the memorial with the help of students from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

During the spring and summer of 2011, Heralds of 9/11 became a true civic endeavor. The Oak Lawn Police and Fire Clubs, and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 footed the costs for bringing the beams to Oak Lawn.

The Oak Lawn Rotary Club took on the task of raising the rest of the funds needed to complete the installation by dropping 2,000 golf balls during the Oak Lawn Chamber golf outing from a helicopter on Stony Creek Golf Course. People purchased the golf balls for a chance to win cash prizes. The Rotary sold so many golf balls the helicopter had to go up twice.

Oak Lawn’s memorial features two 22-foot-tall freestanding beams and two others from the fallen towers attached to original spires created by Blome. Embedded into the obelisks are likenesses of hands and faces of people: police officers, firefighters, and civilians who came to the aid of strangers. Some Oak Lawn residents served as models.

Local welders from Chicago Pipefitters Local 597 also volunteered their services. Throughout the creative process, Blome and volunteers said they felt guided by the spirit of Fr. Michael Judge, the FDNY chaplain who was killed responding to the scene.

"Heralds of 9/11" was dedicated on the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2011. The installation was completed in November 2011.

Currently there are over 1,000 memorials incorporating artifacts from the WTC twin towers. Oak Lawn’s memorial, with its two 22-foot tall abstract bronze stelae incorporating steel beams from the World Trade Center, made Smithsonian Magazine’s “Seven 9/11 Memorials to Visit Across the United States.”

Blome’s works appear all over the Chicago area and throughout the world, including the statue of Jean Baptiste DuSable, the first non-native settler of Chicago; the Chicago Blackhawks 75th anniversary monument; and fallen CPD Officer Ella French, who died in the line of duty in August 2021, in Wentworth Park across from Kennedy High School. The late officer is depicted with her beloved dog Bella.

More recently, Blome’s sculpture of rodent weather prognosticator “Woodstock Willie,” was dedicated in Woodstock, IL, where the movie “Groundhog Day” was filmed in 1992.

Following the reception, Blome will present an artist's view of 9/11 first responders memorial from 8 to 8:30 p.m. at the Oak Lawn-Patriot Metra Station, 9525 S. Tulley Ave. Transportation will NOT be provided. Keep an eye on the library’s online calendar in case of inclement weather.