With assistance from my class of summer sculpture students in WVU’s School of Art and Design, I helped Morgantown artist Jamie Lester create a life-size cast bronze German Shepherd sculpture for a memorial commemorating the canine heroes of 9/11. This memorial at Diamond in the Pines Park in Coram (Long Island), New York, pays tribute to the hundreds of rescue dogs that searched for survivors amid the debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers.

A ceremony was held earlier this month on the anniversary of the attacks to unveil the memorial to the public, and the finished work looks really fantastic. This was an incredibly challenging project, and it wouldn’t have come to such a successful resolution without the knowledge, effort, and labor put forth by my casting colleague Jeremy Entwistle and some amazing, long-distance metal casting consultation by sculptor Carey Netherton. Here are some images of the project, from start to finish.