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NARRATOR: One decade later, the events of September 11th, 2001
have particular resonance with Napa Valley artist Gordon Huether. GORDON: One of the markers of
a seminal moment in a culture, in a country's history, is when everyone can remember
where they were when something occurred.
I was in my studio.
My whole studio shut down. Nobody knew what to do or think, and so...
we all continued working in a kind of silence.
NARRATOR: As Ground Zero was declared a crime scene, the remains of the Twin Towers were put
into storage at New York's Kennedy Airport.
Then, 8 years later, Napa Fire Marshals Darren Drake approached Huether
with an interesting proposal. GORDON: The victims' families decided to
make that steel available to any group of people, any non-profit, anywhere in the world
that wanted to make a memorial.
NARRATOR: Throughout the world, Huether's vast portfolio of large-scale art installations
spans 3 decades.
GORDON: I do work a lot already with repurposed materials,
sometimes in very serious ways, sometimes in very playful ways. NARRATOR: Last year, Huether traveled to
New York City to be inspired by the large steel beams that the Napa County 9/11
Memorial Garden has been awarded. GORDON: They're very straight.
They're very large.
They're very thick.
There are 4 of those pieces that are somewhere between 20 and 24 feet tall.
Each weigh 20 thousand pounds.
They just have a certain character that really loans itself to a somber... proud...
heroic...
... memorial.
NARRATOR: Local officials and volunteers identified a downtown Napa site for
the Napa 9/11 Memorial Garden, and teamed up with landscape architect
Gretchen Stanzel McCann.
GORDON: The idea is that you are able to walk through it...
because the memorial is not just 4 pieces of steel. The memorial has
4 thick, large panes of glass coming off of each one.
And one has all the victims names etched on it; one has the story of the event and
what it meant to us as a country;
there's also a blank one with the clear aperture window— a window of reflection.
NARRATOR: And the 4th pane of glass will answer the question many have already posed:
why memorialize the tragedy of 9/11, in the middle of the Wine Country
of all places?
Gordon Huether says the answer *should* be obvious. GORDON: The fact is that the
victims' families made
this material available
to anybody in the world.
And Napa raise their hand.
NARRATOR: Gordon hopes that this memorial will touch future generations, but also help
Northern Californians feel a personal connection to what happened
to *all* Americans that September morning.
GORDON: It's more of a quiet,
but powerful reminder of the events...
so that you discover...
— it's about discovering it. And that could wind up being one of the
most significant things that you experience on your trip to Napa.