The Memorial Doors
THE PROCESS
The bronze doors will measure approximately 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide. They will sit on a raised stepped granite platform approximately 5 feet tall.
We start with the collection of memories and stories from the families who have lost loved ones to the opioid crisis. The team behind the project will select eight stories to represent on the doors. We will share more memories on the website.
Once all the panels are selected, the sculptors will carve the low relief plaque (bas-relief). The image will be built with minimal physical depth to create the illusion of space. Next, the foundry will make a rubber mold for each panel and cast it in wax. The wax copy will be coated in a ceramic material and fired to melt the wax out. The artists now have an empty shell with a cavity in the shape of the plaques. Then, the foundry will pour molten bronze into the shell. Once broken out of the shell and cleaned up, the foundry will finish the bronze plaques with a golden brown patina.
The bronze panels, 19” x 24”, will be adhered to a steel door. One of the doors will be partially open to allow people to walk through the door.
On the back of the door, there will be inscriptions of prayer, quotes, and education about the national opioid crisis. The doors will be held in place by a steel door frame and installed on a raised, stepped platform made of granite. At night, viewers will see the sculpture lit from within.
A small engraved pedestal will accompany the memorial. It will list the panels with the names and stories that the viewer can investigate further by scanning the QR code on the pedestal. The QR code will bring the viewer to the website with eight 2-minute stories about the person on each panel, spoken by their loved one.
Additionally, the viewer will have access to the ever-growing collection of memories that we will continue to collect on this site.
THE PHASES
Phase I
The memorial project team will put out a national call to ask for stories and memories of loved ones before the addiction took over. The call for submissions will last three months. Congruent with the call, the memorial doors committee will be soliciting requests with cities and towns across the USA for a permanent location for the memorial doors.
The form will ask for your name, the name of your loved one, a story or memory you want to preserve, and any pictures you want to share.
We want to also share your voices and stories with our communities at the memorial door and on our website.
8 stories will be chosen by the memorial doors project committee for creation of the bronze panels and work will commence to sculp the stories in bronze. We estimate that the sculpting and casting of the panels will last 9 months.
Phase II
The next phase will include a decision on site selection for the memorial doors. The final construction and fabrication of the doors will be complete. In addition to the entire catalog of stories on our website, visitors to the memorial doors will be able to listen to the stories chosen to be displayed. The families and loved ones of the 8 bronze panels will be asked to submit a 2 minute audio file describing the story that is memorialized in the panel.
Phase III
The installation of the memorial doors and granite base on the site selected. Unveiling of the memorial doors to the public.
Gone from our sight, but never from our hearts
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Remembering the forgotten
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Cherishing those we have lost through stories
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Gone from our sight, but never from our hearts ~ Remembering the forgotten ~ Cherishing those we have lost through stories ~
Remembering those lost in
the opioid epidemic
Your donations will help tell the story, and forever memorialize in bronze, these seemingly unimportant yet treasured moments in a life cut short by an overdose.