San Bernardino County Museum Opens Exhibit in Remembrance of Terrorist Attack

The horrible events on December 2nd 6 years ago will be remembered and memorialized as part of the “Curtain of Courage” preview exhibit that is open now through December 19 at the San Bernardino County Museum. The “Curtain of Courage” is a piece of art that is under development by Walter Hood to honor the victims of the December 2nd terrorist attack.

This Exhibition features models and mock ups of the memorial entitled “The Curtain of Courage” as well as photo’s and videos of the project currently under construction at the County Government Center.

The December 2nd Memorial Committee formed in 2016, held several meetings to establish an overall vision for the memorial based on shared values. The committee determined the memorial should recognize the broad diversity and lives of the victims as well as those who stepped up to preserve and protect life. The memorial would also provide enduring recognition of the County employees who witnessed the attack, many of whom were physically injured and all of whom were emotionally impacted. The committee expressed that the memorial would be a place for quiet reflection, and would result in a space to appropriately and eternally reflect the many important and unique people, stories, and lessons of December 2nd.

Hood, a landscape architect, is the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland. He is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and lectures on professional and theoretical projects nationally and internationally. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Design (2009), the Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award (2017), a Knight Public Spaces Fellowship (2019), a MacArthur Fellowship (2019, commonly referred to as the “Genius Grant”), and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2019).

In 2021, Hood was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Architectural League presented to Hood the highest honor given to an individual for their exceptional achievements in architecture, urbanism, art, design, and the environment, where Architectural League President Paul Lewis declared that Hood is “one of the most influential designers of public space of our time … ”

Hood’s notable large-scale projects across the country include the grounds for the M. H. de Young Museum, in San Francisco, with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron (2005), Rendezvous Park, Jackson, Wyoming (2011); Oakland Waterfront Master Plan, in Oakland (2011); Viaduct Rail Park, Philadelphia (2016); “Witness Walls,” Nashville, Tenn. (2017); Rosa Parks Neighborhood Master Plan, Detroit, Mich. (2018); the garden redesign for the Oakland Museum of California (2021 ); Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park, Jacksonville, Fla. (in progress}, and the International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C. (in progress).

The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $10 (adult), $8 (military or senior), $7 (student), and $5 (child aged 5 to 12). Children under five and Museum Association members are admitted free. Parking is free.

The museum is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane in Redlands. For more information, visit www.sbcounty.gov/museum.