By Marie Maber
HOLMDEL – In 1980, then Holmdel resident and high school track and cross-country athlete, Brian Hanlon, now of Toms River, had a decision to make. He had accepted a job as an ironworker in New York at $18.75 per hour, an awesome wage for a young man 35 years ago, and was enrolled at Brookdale Community College as an undecided major. “While at Brookdale I loved hanging out with Blaser [BCC art professor Antonio Blaser]. He was so into clay. He inspired me to become an artist,” Hanlon said.
Thinking back on his days at Brookdale, he recalled, “We had a cross-country track meet against West Point. I beat their first guy by about a minute. I thought it was incredible at the time, such an important school came all the way to Holmdel Park to compete against community college students.”
Indeed there was surprising power in Brookdale’s track team of 1980, and Hanlon believed in his own athletic prowess. And yes, sports would factor prominently in Hanlon’s adult life – but his participation would not be on the field. Once he had the experience of working in the medium of clay with Blaser, new and different pathways appeared for this young talent.
From Teamster to Artist
“I also went from ironworker (‘80 – ’81) to teamster (‘82 – ’83),” Hanlon said. “Those experiences helped shape the way I look at the world today. It was the people I worked with and the street education I received that made that impact. It was a great transition for me to have worked those jobs after growing up in Holmdel.”
After a year at Brookdale and 18 months at Kean College, where he experienced his first true love of drawing, Hanlon went on to complete his bachelor’s degree in art education at Monmouth College (now Monmouth University). He then spent two years at Boston University pursuing a Master of Fine Arts. Because he was accepting sculpting commissions while enrolled at BU, Hanlon decided to follow the advice of his professor El Weinberg and leave the university to work full-time as a sculptor.
Since then, Hanlon went on to create over 400 bronze figures. His three most recent works comprise the NJ Gold Star Family Monument, located outside the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Holmdel.
His first bronze sculpture still stands at Holmdel High School in honor of friend and classmate, Bob Roggy, who was the world record holder in the javelin with a throw of 312 feet, a distance greater than the length of a football field. Roggy was killed in a motor vehicle incident in 1986.
Hanlon remembers negotiating that sculpture on his own. “I went to the athletic director, the beloved Jay Demarest, who thought that creating a sculpture in the memory of Bob Roggy was a great idea. However, he looked at me and said, ‘But you are not a sculptor.’” Executing his first sculpture was a first step in the career that would take him around the world and back several times over.
“When I saw the look on the face of Mrs. Roggy at the dedication ceremony at Holmdel High in honor of her son, I saw in her expression a sense of freedom and healing. I felt she experienced some mercy from her suffering. It was a profound moment – one I will never forget. In that experience I knew what it was I wanted to do with my life,” he said.
NJ Gold Star Family Monument
The New Jersey Gold Star Family Monument was dedicated on Sept. 27, 2015 and the end of the four-day “NJ Run for the Fallen,” with several hundred military personnel and their families in attendance. It consists of an inscribed 8-foot bronze and granite pillar, granite benches, inscribed pavers, and a tableau. Seated on the benches are three life-sized bronze figures. It is as though these figures have paused during a scene on stage and are briefly frozen in position. Visitors look into their faces and sit beside them in quiet contemplation.
Hanlon’s figures tell a story of personal loss amid engraved references to military valor, responsibility, duty, and commitment. On one bench is seated a bronze man. He is massive; his gesture is closed and contemplative. He holds the dog tags of a fallen soldier, perhaps they had been worn by his son. On another bench are two figures representing a mother and child that lost, perhaps, a husband and a father. The mother’s arm rests on the shoulders of her child in a comforting gesture. Next to these figures, empty benches serve as reminders of their losses.
“The mission was to create a spot for these families to meet; to create a memorial that would provide a tribute that would be solemn, to emanate hope, strength, and spirituality rather than despair or sadness,” said Hanlon.
Such an oasis of healing is the result of systematic planning, inspired design, and a generous outpouring of resources. The memorial provides a quiet, respectful place to contemplate human loss, war-time sacrifices and the incredible bravery and endurance of military families.
No artist could create such a complex memorial without significant financial backing. Hanlon acknowledges that Ken and Helen Gurbisz have been signature benefactors of Holmdel’s memorial complex, making it possible for an authentic military helicopter to loom high above the entranceway of the Holmdel Museum & Education Center as well as making the new memorial possible.
Marie Maber, MA, is associate professor or art at Brookdale Community College.
If You Go:
New Jersey Gold Star Memorial
1 Memorial Lane, Holmdel outside the
NJ Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation
Museum & Education Center
Garden State Parkway Exit 116
