TRUE COLORS
Artist’s tribute to workers includes FDNY pioneer
NEARLY 20 YEARS of experience with New York’s Bravest has put Firefighter Tracy Lewis, of Engine 240 in Brooklyn, in a state of perpetual readiness.
“You never know what you’re going to walk into and face,” she told the Daily News.
Lewis, 45, the second black woman firefighter to be promoted to lieutenant in FDNY history, comes face to face Tuesday with her own image at “Everyday Heroes NYC,” an exhibit at the New York City Fire Museum that runs through Friday. It then moves to a popup gallery at 138 Wooster St. through April 20.
Lewis’ likeness is among 15 portraits and cityscapes by Scottish artist Alexander Millar, whose work often depicts working men and women. The 57-year-old artist’s paintings and sketches make up his first show in New York.
“I’ve wanted to paint a collection dedicated to the firefighters of New York for some time,” he said. “They are some of the most extraordinary people on the planet.” Millar’s subjects are both living and deceased, informed by archival photographs and materials from the NYC Fire Museum and the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization of black firefighters. The collection includes Wesley Williams, who became one of the first black FDNY firefighters in 1919. Millar’s painting of Walter (Wally) Malone, a former Fire Department lieutenant who died last year at 83, will become a part of the Fire Museum’s permanent collection. One portrait is being kept under wraps until the private opening on Tuesday evening.
Millar made it a point to create an exhibit that celebrated the “valor and dignity and diversity” across the Bravest’s ranks.
The Vulcan Society added that Williams, one of the group’s founders, “will be recognized through art to display his greatness.”
Last year, for the first time in the FDNY’s history, more women and black, Latino and Asian applicants filed for the firefighter exam than white men.
The diverse focus of “Everyday Heroes” appeals to Lewis, who didn’t consult with Millar on her painting.
“When I heard that I was part of it, I wasn’t sure how to take it,” she said. “I’m more of a low-key person who likes to be off to the side. But I’m OK with the honor. We hear a lot about firemen, but not as much about firewomen.
“To me,” she added, “it’s good to have younger women see other women.”
That includes in the field and in command — and, in this case, on canvas.