Artists Registry

This unfinished sculpture by Ed McEnaney was initially inspired by his twenty plus years as a volunteer fireman in Nassau County. He calls it his “Field of Dreams” project. That is, he felt if he built it, “they” would come for it when it was needed and could be appreciated properly. This action/reality-based sculpture is built primarily around two focal points that should be accessible to the artist's firefighting brethren, but might not register as profoundly with those who have never donned firefighting gear. The helmet on the ground signals a "mayday" or firefighter in distress. Additionally, the subject firefighter's engaged posture and facial expression is a departure from the majority of sculptures and memorial statues dedicated to firefighters and departments. The artist felt that most statuary dedicated to firefighting and firefighters depict the subjects as stoic, rigid and removed from that which makes them heroic.
The configuration of the hand of the firefighter and its relationship to the helmet on the ground was inspired by the "Creation of Adam" portion of Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel masterpiece. The hand of the firefighter represents the hand of God and the helmet for which he reaches is the "life" he hopes will be saved. Since his childhood, Ed McEnaney has studied and been fascinated by the work of Michaelangelo.
The plaster and clay structure is still in it’s original form, yet to be bronzed. Just days before the 9/11 tragedy, which took the life of Ed McEnaney’s dear friend Brian C. Hickey, Capt. Of Rescue 4, they spent the Labor Day holiday together and discussed an appropriate memorial for the statue. On Father’s Day of the same year, 3 firefighter’s lost their lives in a hardware store fire in Astoria, one of them a close friend and fellow trainer at the Fire Service Academy in Nassau County, Brian Fahey. Capt. Hickey and Ed McEnaney were planning to have the statue dedicated to the fallen firefighters. After 9/11, Ed McEnaney felt that the only befitting place for the statue would be to honor his dear friend Brian Hickey and the 342 other fire service heroes that lost their lives that day.
The statue is entitled “Mayday”