Healing through art

Mike Sciacca

Andreana Borrayo remembers being engulfed in sadness a year ago.

The sadness she felt on Sept. 11 was not unique to her, as

emotions on that dark, historic day, ran the gamut across the country

and worldwide.

But Andreana, then 11, did something about that sadness. She

channeled it through her paintbrush. Her strokes gently caressing a

canvas that ultimately would pay tribute to Sept. 11.

The Huntington Beach resident, on her own accord, expressed

herself via her artwork and painted a scene that depicted the

American flag standing tall among the rubble that once was the World

Trade Center.

The painting has a gray tone to it, the smoky background the

perfect backdrop for the bold red, white and blue colors of Old

Glory.

The plaque on the painting reads: “To Those Who Answered the

Call.”

“When the tragedy happened, I wanted to show how much it had

affected me,” said Andreana, now 12. “I was so sad on that day, and I

just had an idea to do something. This painting is what I ended up

doing.”

She worked off of a picture found on the Internet. She said it

took nine hours to complete, seven of those hours coming in a

workshop at Barbel’s Art Center in Huntington Beach, where she has

been taking classes for five years.

“I try to express how I feel through my paintings,” she said.

“After watching the news and becoming so angry and upset that someone

could do this to others, I decided to paint a picture of the ruins of

the World Trade Center, to show the cause and effect of the terrorist

attack. Through the dust, smoke and debris, through it all, our flag

stands tall.”

Once she completed the painting, Andreana wanted to somehow donate

her work. So, with the help from Katrina Cook of the Firefighters

National Trust in Gig Harbor, Wash., and Captain Tom Keller of Garden

Grove Fire Station No. 7, she was able to donate the painting to New

York City Fire Station No. 10, the fire house across the street from

Ground Zero.

When Cook saw what Andreana had painted, she said the painting was

the “most realistic one we have seen,” in regards to Sept. 11.

Andreana, who has been accepted into the visual arts program at

the Orange County High School of the Arts and began classes there

just last week, had an even greater thrill of traveling across

country by train to be present for the dedication of her painting.

Her day in New York City included being greeted at the train

station by Captain Gene Kelty of Fire Station No. 10, getting to sit

atop one of the fire trucks, receiving a hat and T-shirts and then

getting a tour of the city from Kelty, which included a visit to

Ground Zero.

Her painting was dedicated on Aug. 20, at Fire Station No. 7 in

New York City.

Fire Station No. 10, she said, has not been fully restored since

being damaged last Sept. 11.

“To tell you the truth I was more thrilled than Andreana,” said

Barbel Strzoda, the owner of and an instructor at Barbel’s Art

Center. “I’ve been to the World Trade Center and Ground Zero, but

I’ll be going back now to see her painting.”

“Andreana’s a very unique child and what she did on her own accord

was just terrific. I am very proud of her work and of the love and

caring that she shows toward others.”