2023: Upward Bound Trip – Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial
After leaving the Boston area, we took a bus all the way to New York City. I’ll be honest, I slept for most of the trip because it was dark and I was exhausted. We arrived late at night, checked into our hotel, and I went straight to bed to prepare for an early start exploring New York City. Our first destination was Liberty State Park in New Jersey, where we planned to catch a ferry to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. While at Liberty State Park, I made it a priority to visit the Empty Sky Memorial, and I decided to dedicate an entire spread to this powerful tribute.
The Empty Sky Memorial, located in Jersey City, New Jersey, honors the 749 New Jersey residents who lost their lives during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The memorial features two parallel stainless steel walls, each 210 feet long, representing the Twin Towers. The names of the victims are etched in bold letters, creating a solemn space for reflection and remembrance. Aligned with the site where the towers once stood, the memorial offers a direct view of the Manhattan skyline, grounding visitors in both loss and hope. Designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz, the Empty Sky Memorial stands as a moving reminder of resilience and unity.
I captured several photos of the memorial from different distances, and three of them made it onto this spread: the furthest away on the left, progressing to the closest on the right. While I hoped to find a graphic of the memorial for the spread, I ended up designing my own in Cricut Design Space. To do this, I imported a photo of the memorial and used shapes to recreate its structure, adjusting until everything was just right. The New York skyline in the background, featuring the Freedom Tower, was an image from Cricut Access. While the actual sculpture points slightly to the right of the Freedom Tower, I chose to emphasize the tower’s alignment on this page.
The right-hand side features a cutout of the memorial’s title, “Empty Sky.” I intentionally made it subtle, requiring viewers to pause and focus to read it. I created this effect by cutting out the letters and using the reverse image, allowing the background to show through. The graphic at the bottom of the page also came from Cricut Access and was drawn using the pen feature on my Cricut Maker.
The background of the spread is divided into half sky and half green, mirroring the memorial’s setting. I achieved this by cutting two 12×12 cardstocks in half and piecing them together. This design reflects the photographs and helps honor the significance of this place of remembrance. Creating this spread was a meaningful way to pay tribute to the Empty Sky Memorial and the lives it commemorates.
To watch the construction of this spread click on the video below:
Categories: 2023, History Museum, Upward Bound Trip 2023
MASCrapping 