News

Hometown Hero

by Staci Backauskas

Brian Hanlon shapes memories. A sculptor, his chief subject is giving form to the past and catching people’s proudest moments.

Highlights from Hanlon’s career include a sculpture honoring 100 years of volunteer firefighters, which stands in downtown Toms River, N.J., and a statue recently unveiled in Barnegat Light (pop. 764) celebrating New Jersey’s fishermen. Last summer, he dedicated a bronze statue of a teacher reading to four elementary school students that now stands outside The Village School in the town where he grew up, Holmdel, N.J. (pop. 15,781).

Hanlon’s current pride and joy, The Spirit of the Little League, was dedicated this past fall. Inspired by the World Championship won by Toms River in 1998, Hanlon helped create the committee that has overseen the statue’s development. “The neighboring communities of Brick and Lakewood have had incredible teams as well,” Hanlon points out.

Now 40 and a resident of the Pleasant Plains area (pop. 2,577) of Toms River, Hanlon has sculpted professionally for more than 20 years. With the support of his wife, Michele, he created Hanlon Studios in 1994. A father of four—Molly, Maggie, Luke, and Declan—he loves living and working in the small Ocean County town that was once dotted with poultry farms.

Tucked behind a quiet residential street, the studio where he works is one of four old chicken coops once part of a farm, now filled with plaster casts and rubber molds. “I think it’s cool,” Hanlon smiles. “George Segal, one of the most famous American sculptors, is my hero, and he worked out of a chicken coop in South Brunswick for 50 years.”

A shelf in back holds busts Hanlon has sculpted over the years. Sea Bright’s Mayor Charles Rooney rests next to Pro Football Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson. In describing each work, Hanlon pauses at Count Basie.

“That was an incredible experience,” he smiles. “A board member from the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, N.J., asked me to sculpt a bust of the Count.” His blue eyes sparkle as he continues. “I think Count Basie is the greatest band leader in history, so I jumped at the chance. B.B. King and I unveiled it together at the theater in 1999.”

Hanlon is interrupted by Molly Feldmus, the German woman who owns the chicken coops; she’s stopped by to say good morning. “Molly’s a big part of why I chose to do the Holocaust Memorial for the B’nai Israel Congregation in Toms River,” Hanlon explains after she leaves. “A lot of German holocaust survivors settled in New Jersey after the war. It was important to me to remember them.”

For that matter, it was a memory that turned him to sculpture as a lifelong pursuit. At Monmouth University on a track scholarship, Hanlon majored in art education and planned on teaching. Then, as a sophomore, he sculpted a statue honoring a Holmdel High School javelin thrower whose life tragically had been cut short. When he unveiled it for the athlete’s parents, it changed his life. “It was something about the look on his mother’s face,” Hanlon says, “that told me I needed to be a sculptor because I could make a difference as an artist.”

His work continues to make a difference. Joe Cannova, a local businessman and the chairman of the Spirit of the Little League committee, is excited about what Hanlon’s current statue represents to Toms River. “It was amazing what these kids did,” Cannova says. “They were the very best. The whole town got drawn in, and it forged a positive bond in the community. People still talk about that game.” (Toms River defeated Kashima, Japan, 12-9). Hanlon’s bronze statue of a coach and his player commemorates that excitement—and honors all those who take part in Little League.

Much of Hanlon’s work is rooted in history. Included on his docket are sculptures of retired University of Virginia football coach George Welsh and religious figure Padre Pio. But he’s already thinking ahead.

“I really want to do a statue of Mickey Mantle,” he grins. “He was the greatest baseball player who ever lived.”

Staci Backauskas is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

first appeared: 1/20/2002

For more information on Brian Hanlon, please visit http://www.hanlonsculpture.com

Famed sculptor Brian Hanlon has been creating statues and memorials since 1991.    In 2005, Hanlon completed an 8 foot bronze statue for the St Peter’s College in New Jersey.  The statue was a gift from an anonymous benefactor of the college honoring St Peter the Apostle, the college’s namesake. 

On March 31, 2005, college President James N Loughran S.J., dedicated the Sculpture of Saint Peter on the campus in a ceremony attended by students, community members, alumni and benefactors.

To read the full story, please visit http://www.hanlonsculpture.com/category/hanlon-sculptures-in-the-news

Brian Hanlon is the only full time commissioned sculptor in New Jersey with more than 200 public art pieces featured around the world.  Many of Brian’s pieces honor those we have lost.  Brian is especially proud to use his talent as a healing tool for those who mourn the loss of loved ones taken too young, too tragically, or just too early.

A photo gallery of Brian’s work can be seen on his website, http://www.hanlonsculpture.com

For more information:

Brian Hanlon

Hanlon Sculpture

Phone 732.240.7149

Fax 732.914.8579

sculpt1@hotmail.com

Brian Hanlon created the 8 foot bronze statue which stands as a memorial to St Peter.  The bronze figure of the college’s namesake weights 1,200 pounds!

Read the full story located on page 2:

http://www.hanlonsculpture.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Bronze_Statue_Honors_St_Peter.pdf

By Erin Foley
Originally Posted: 9/28/06, The Daily Illini

Illinois Men’s Basketball Coach Bruce Weber, on behalf of alumnus Dee Brown, accepts the Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award from Basketball Hall of Fame sculptor Brian P. Hanlon Thursday morning at the Ubben Basketball Complex in Champaign. The award was given to Dee for his performance during the 2005 basketball season.

Although Dee Brown never won the coveted national championship trophy he spent four seasons trying for, “the one-man-fast break” and face of college basketball still received his fair share of recognition – and with good reason.

Brown, along with James Augustine, won a record 114 games while at Illinois, and returned the school to one of the elite basketball programs with its trip to the Final Four in 2005.

That’s why Hall of Famer Bob Cousy thought Brown to be the right choice for the Cousy Award, given to the nation’s best point guard. Brown was presented with the trophy on April 3 in Indianapolis before the NCAA Championship game.

On Thursday, Brian Hanlon, a sculptor for the Basketball Hall of Fame and artist for the Cousy Award, presented head coach Bruce Weber with a replica of the trophy at the Ubben Basketball Facility. The award, which is in its fourth year, honors Cousy, who played point guard for the 1947 Holy Cross NCAA Championship team, was a Boston Celtic great and was named one of the top 50 players in NBA history.

“The award has Bob’s name on it because Bob is concerned and very adamant about creating an award pointing to the point guard and pointing to the fundamentals of basketball: passing, dribbling, shooting; and that the individual is an individual with great character and is a leader on the court,” Hanlon said.

Weber said Cousy is a player who blended the lines between old-school basketball and new-school basketball because of his behind-the-back passes and between-the-leg dribbles, but also because of his sound fundamentals of “playing the point guard position like I believe it should be played.”

Previous recipients of the Cousy Award include former St. Joseph’s star and Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson, and also Raymond Felton, who played at the University of North Carolina and is now with the Charlotte Bobcats. Felton was the Co-MVP of the 2005 NCAA Championship game and was selected fifth in that year’s NBA draft.

“We feel it’s been extremely successful so far; we’re in our fourth year and we hope this will be the Heisman trophy of basketball, which would be a tremendous honor for the Hall and Cousy,” Hanlon said.

The replica of the Cousy Award will be kept in the trophy cases at Ubben, and Brown was presented with a replica cast in aluminum, which he keeps at his mother’s home in Chicago.

In August, the Hall of Fame unveiled a new display case for the trophy Brown received last April. Brown and Cousy were both on hand for the presentation.

Brown is Illinois’ only basketball national award winner in the modern era. Weber, who has jokingly said to head athletic director Ron Guenther that more trophy cases might need to be built, said he hopes Illinois sees more Cousy Award winners in the future.

“I don’t know how many times we’re going to have the opportunity to have a Cousy Award winner,” Weber said. “But since we have Dee, I thought it would be great to have them see something that we should cherish and promote for many years to come.”

For more information on the statues created by Brian Hanlon, please visit http://www.hanlonsculpture.com

Dec 3, 2008

Firefighter statue to be unveiled at anniversary ceremony today

Sculptor, chief to unveil collaborative effort today

By Martin Luttrell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
mluttrell@telegram.com
 

WORCESTER— Brian P. Hanlon recalled the grief he felt upon hearing about the six city firefighters who died in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building accidentally set ablaze by a homeless couple.

He wanted to submit a proposal for a memorial to be built behind Fire Department Headquarters on Grove Street, but was eventually put off by the scale of the project.

A few years later and 330 miles away, the New Jersey sculptor was “in the right place at the right time” when he noticed the Worcester Fire Department shirt being worn by fire Capt. Kevin Maloney at a fire training seminar in Baltimore. The ensuing conversation led Mr. Hanlon back to Worcester, where he already was doing a sculpture of the College of the Holy Cross graduate and Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy, and to a series of meetings with fire officials interested in a smaller remembrance at a station to be built on the site of the Cold Storage fire.

At 5 p.m. today a sculpture created by Mr. Hanlon will be unveiled by Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio at the new Franklin Street Fire Station to remember the firefighters who died nine years ago tonight searching for homeless people believed to be living in the former Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building.  

A large crowd was on hand Wednesday evening, December 3, 2008 for the unveiling of the Fallen 6 Firefighters Memorial (T&G staff photos/STEVE LANAVA)

They are: Firefighter Timothy P. Jackson Sr., who lived in Hopedale and was the father of two children; Firefighter Paul A. Brotherton, 41, of Auburn, a father of six; Firefighter Jeremiah M. Lucey, 38, of Leicester, a father of two; Lt. Thomas E. Spencer, 42, of Worcester, a father of three; Firefighter Joseph T. McGuirk, 38, of Leicester, a father of two; and Firefighter James F. Lyons, 34, of Worcester. Firefighters Jackson and Lyons were posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant. 

“I just think it’s going to be a fitting tribute for the people that matter, the families,” Mr. Hanlon said. “It’s humbling to do this. I respect the hell out of what these guys do,” he said as firefighters spread straw over muddy ground surrounding the sculpture, which was covered by a yellow tent earlier this week.

Mr. Hanlon, who has more than 200 public sculptures, has done several in honor of public safety personnel lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. He is working on another sculpture for Holy Cross and has been applying last-minute touches to the three-element remembrance on Franklin Street this week. He said that while the fundraising effort continues for an estimated $6.5 million memorial park behind the Grove Street fire headquarters, firefighters wanted a more personal remembrance in front of the new station on the former Cold Storage and Warehouse Co building site.

“I heard about it on the news,” Mr. Hanlon said. “I was invited to propose something on the original memorial. When I checked into it, it didn’t seem like the type of commission I do. The size of the project scared me off. This is a tribute, not a memorial.

“It’s important that the people have the heart of the project in them. Gerry Dio is a smart, prudent firefighter. He has the heart of this project.”

He said that while visiting Worcester for work on the Bob Cousy statue, he stopped at the Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building site before the new station was under construction and stood there for hours. Since then he has visited the site almost a dozen times, and said his concept took shape as the steel for the station began to take shape.

“I like to use three elements,” he said. “With this particular tribute, there’s a figure that represents the present: a firefighter reflecting on what happened. He’s in full modern gear. The detail is important.

“The next piece is a folded coat and helmet in front of the firefighter, on a pedestal. That is, in a subtle way, a memorial.”

Then behind it is a 12-foot-long by 6-foot-high granite wall with a composition of six firefighters, he said.

“They’re not meant to be likenesses, but to impart the spirit of the job,” he pointed out. “That’s an important distinction — the spirit of the job. They all work together.”

Fire Lts. John A. Daly and Andrew White and Capt. Maloney started a series of fire safety and training seminars nine years ago that raised money for the larger planned memorial, of which some $100,000 or so is being used for the sculpture to be unveiled today, said Chief Dio.

“It’s a remembrance, not a memorial. I don’t want to get the two confused,” Chief Dio said.

He said he had discussions with Mr. Hanlon about the concept and at one point had six firefighters from an engine, a ladder truck and a rescue truck suit up so the sculptor could see in detail how they looked.

“No one has seen the whole thing,” he said of the sculpture now under blue plastic tarps. “They will on Dec. 3. I’m a committee of one. I hope they like it. The buck stops with me.”

Mr. Hanlon said the earth tone granite will go well with the nearby station and helps convey what he is trying to impart to viewers.

“This has been an amazing experience so far,” he said. “Worcester is a beautiful slice of American pie. These guys are down to earth and great to work with.”

A portion of Franklin Street, from Grafton Street to Barbara Lane, will be closed from 3:30 to 7 p.m. today. Vehicles will be detoured during this time. Parking will be available at the Union Station Parking Garage for a flat rate of $1 from 3 to 9 p.m. for those attending the event.

A large crowd was on hand Wednesday evening, December 3, 2008 for the unveiling of the Fallen 6 Firefighters Memorial at the new Franklin Street fire station. This is the site of the 1999 warehouse fire that claimed the lives of six firefighters. (T&G staff photos/STEVE LANAVA)