Art Prints by Firefighter and Artist Scott Boulton

The horrific and heroic images of Sept. 11 are branded in our minds.

Got room for one more — one created from the firefighter's heart and artist's head of Scott Boulton?

Boulton, 32, of Parma Heights, is bound for New York today, toting a minivan load of framed prints of his work, "Forever in Our Memory."

The Brook Park firefighter and commercial illustrator hopes to have the image hung in the more than 350 New York City firehouses as a memorial to his fallen comrades. He also hopes to sell prints to raise money for their families.

"I think he'll be well-received. It's an amazing piece of artwork," said Jim Astorino, president of both the Brook Park Firefighters Local 1141 and Northern Ohio Firefighters, an umbrella group of 50 local unions. In another example of life's weird twists, Boulton had eventually hoped to start a side business as an outlet for his artwork. The terrorist attack kind of forced the issue a little sooner.

Boulton recalled how he was glued to "Dateline" that night after the attack, when an emotional New York City firefighter appeared on television lamenting the loss of what would turn out to be 343 of his colleagues — many of whom had rushed into the burning World Trade Center to save lives.

"I remember him saying, I hope people won't forget these men,' " said Boulton, a seven-year firefighter-paramedic for the Brook Park department.

Starting a few days later, and after about 80 hours of work during his off time over several weeks, Boulton emerged with what he considers a fitting tribute. He described the piece as "multimedia," because it combines airbrush, charcoal and colored pencil.

The colorful 19-1/2-by-30-inch print is a moving collage of chaos and inspiration that Boulton believes not only captures the tragedy, but also America's resolve.

Firefighters in gas masks, others working through rubble, rescuing survivors or raising the flag, surround an eagle taking flight against a bright light.

"I want it to show the glimmering hope," Boulton said. "I wanted to show a lot of the emotions in there."

The events of Sept. 11 drove many people to the studio to draw, write music or express their emotions in other artistic ways. Boulton's background brings a rare perspective to his work.

A 1987 graduate and former football linebacker at Valley Forge High School, Boulton earned an associate's degree in advertising design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. He worked as a senior art director for a Florida ad agency, but he felt unfulfilled professionally.

"I don't feel like I'm doing any good for anyone," he recalled thinking at the time.

So he returned to Northeast Ohio in 1994 to become a firefighter, like his great-great-great-great-grandfather, Henry Boulton, who was a Cleveland firefighter in the late 1800s.

"It really makes you feel whole," he said, describing the "euphoria" of saving someone's life.

Although the prints will be donated to the New York firehouses, Boulton also hopes to sell it — and others, eventually — to help cover production costs and hopefully raise money for the New York families, although that has not been arranged yet.

The lithograph can be ordered on the Internet starting tomorrow at www.firefightingart.com. The cost is $48, plus $15 for shipping and handling.

Suburban Press of Cleveland, a printing firm run by Boulton's former Valley Forge classmates, Will and Paul Mueller, is contributing the first run of prints to help offset the cost.

Howard Thompson, another former Valley Forge classmate and sales and marketing manager for a local general contracting firm, is managing Scott Boulton Enterprises. He planned to accompany Boulton on the East Coast trip. Boulton didn't know anyone who died in the World Trade Center. In fact, he's never even been to New York. That hardly matters.

"When I saw what those guys were going through, it hit me right between the eyes," he said. "It was overpowering."