Closing Remarks

A Sacred Space: April 16th Remembrance Installation

Saturday April 21 was the last day of this interactive exhibit which was designed as a memorial visitation space for anyone, who on the five year annivesary of this event, needed a space to pay homage to the victims of April 16, 2007.  The pieces in the exhibit were selected from the Virgina Tech Library April 16, 2007 Archives

The spiral was made of small stones and was not a part of the archived items. It eventully grew to have 264 stones, each imprinted with a simple thought or image.  482 people visited the gallery during the eight days of the exhibit.

The above piece was created by Sean Cromer. At the time that he created this drawing, he was an inmate at Gainesville Correctional Institute. The media he used to create the work was simply what was available to him; a pocket hankerchief and a felt tip pen. Each dove was hand drawn.

The eggs  above are an example of the care and thought put into the gifts sent to Virginia Tech during the months after the tragedy. Created by Carol Davis, a Blacksburg resident and alumnus of Virginia Tech, the eggs were made using a Ukranian decorating technique called Pysanky. The process of Pysanky requires that a design be painted with a kistky; a tool which holds hot beeswax and allows it to flow out in a thin contolled line. The eggs are dyed in bright colors, and then rewaxed to retain that color in a specific area of the design. This process is repeated many times until the final coating of black dye covers all that is not waxed. Carol designed each of the eggs  beautifully and heartfully, hand-crafting each with the victim's name and a unique symbol on the front of the egg. On the back was a ribbon and the VT logo as well as the date.

 Over 89,000 items were received by Virginia Tech after April 16, 2007. Gifts from around the world were sent to the university, each one receiving a thank you note from a faculty or staff member. Many of the items are archived at the Virginia Tech library, where archivist, Tamara Kennelly hopes to provide research material for studies on grief.

Robin Scully Boucher, curator