Teen's 9/11 Painting Featured at Art Show

When America was attacked on Sept. 11, everybody had a different reaction. Eight-year-old Andrew Bleidner's reaction was to paint.   He sat down on the night of the attacks and painted a picture of the towers standing tall with an American flag painted on each tower.

Almost nine years later, with Bleidner now a 17-year-old Pomperaug High School senior, his painting will be on display at a 9/11 art exhibit in the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ on Sept. 15.

The "9/11 Living Memorial," as it is called, is hosted by the Voices of September 11th foundation in collaboration with the Brodsky Center.

 Bleidner says he did the painting because he "wanted the voices of the people who were lost (in the attacks) to be remembered and memorialized."

"[The attacks were] something that I wanted to think about, and my way of thinking was through painting," he said.

Bleidner has brought his painting to memorial gatherings every year on the anniversary of the attacks, because he says that people need to see patriotic tributes like his.

"people are starting to forget[the attacks]….it's something that the world should see," said Bleidner.

Mary Fetchet, founder of the Voices of September Eleventh foundation, which organized the art show, contacted Bleidner in July, with hopes of including his painting in her gallery.

She was interested in Bleidner's work because it was "so representative of how Americans responded after 9/11."

Fetchet said that she was fascinated by Bleidner's painting.

"The story of the painting is as meaningful as the painting itself," she said.

 Bleidner brought the painting to New Canaan, Connecticut last week and delivered it to Fetchet.

Find out more about the project, and the foundation itself, at voicesofseptember11.org.