The Sept. 11 tragedy affected us all in many ways. Some people chose to express themselves through song, poetry, speeches or doing more community service. One SHSU student chose to express her feelings through art.. At the beginning of the semester, graduating senior art major Hope Andrus submitted a proposal for her independent study art class that would allow her to express her feelings regarding the Sept. 11 attacks.Andrus, a native Houstonian, said that she chose to do the project because she wants to have something special to show her children when they come of age. “I am really addicted to the date itself. It is a big piece of my history that I will never forget,” Andrus said.The Sept. 11 tragedy had a great emotional affect on Andrus. “It’s hard to put into words. It took my innocence away, that people could be like that,” she said.Andrus said she feels that this type of artwork it important because if we do not constantly remember Sept. 11, then it will be forgotten and it could happen again. Andrus began by stretching the canvas and preparing it for painting. Next, she painted the background. She then glued photographs taken from magazines to pieces of rubber and attached them to the canvas. After the paint and glue dried, Andrus melted wax and dripped it down the painting, allowing wax to run down between the pictures. On “Bruised”, the painting with pictures depicting the attack and the immediate aftermath, she added pieces of wood and ashes, then covered the additions with more melted wax. Carved into the wax are the total numbers of the people who lost their lives.”I was trying to demonstrate the melting of the building, the melting of flesh-it’s supposed to represent the people dying,” Andrus said.Andrus added the ashes and wood to the painting because she was told the painting was “too pretty” for what she was trying to convey. It was to be very somber, dark, Andrus said, and was too bright and colorful to convey that meaning.”Healing”, the second painting, is much brighter, revealing the healing of New York and its citizens. It consists of before and after pictures, showing the horror and devastation of Sept. 11 and the recovery that has followed.Senior Misty Foster, one of Andrus’ roommates said, “It’s amazing to watch Hope work. You look at her paintings and you can see what she was feeling when she painted it. Her ability to take something as tragic as Sept. 11 and turn it into a work of art it’s staggering to see her feelings expressed.”