About The Artist 


 
Las Vegas Artist Randy Soard is an independent Professional Photographer and Nevada Arts  Advocate who specializes in the promotion and support of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Community. For the past nine-years Randy has developed the Memorial Tribute Project "Faces of the Brave" which Honors the Heroes of 9/11. Randy is a 49-year resident of Las Vegas Nevada and a graduate of Las Vegas High School and the University of Nevada (Reno) with a BSME degree in Mechanical Engineering. Randy is also a graduate of the Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Citizen's Fire Academy - Class of 2004 and participates in 9/11 commemorations ceremonies around the country. Randy is the Vice-President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Arts Advocates, a 501(c)(3) non-profit statewide organization founded more than 30-years ago for educational purposes to promote participation and enjoyment of the arts and to increase arts funding.

Shown below is Randy Soard as a student with his mural at the Palmer Engineering building on the University of Nevada (Reno) campus in April 1972.		 d to promote

 

  The Mural "Evolution of Engineering"  

Saturday, December 29, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas artist creates poster to honor rescue workers

Randy Soard waiting for permission to print his creation

By JOELLE BABULA
REVIEW-JOURNAL


They are the faces of hundreds of heroes, of all ages and colors.

Staring straight ahead, the tiny images are superimposed over the already-renowned photograph of firefighters raising the U.S. flag at Ground Zero.

Las Vegas artist Randy Soard turned the pictures into a poster as a tribute to the rescue workers who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

And he believes it can raise millions of dollars for their families -- if he gets permission to print it.

Families of the dead rescue workers must grant Soard permission to use the photos. Copyright licensure must be granted from The Record newspaper of Bergen County, N.J., before the firefighter photo can be used.

"Art is my passion, and I've been creating art to raise money for charities the last two years," said Soard, a mechanical engineer by training. He has donated paintings and photo mosaics to local charities such as Opportunity Village in the past.

Soard said he is working with lawyers and police and firefighter unions and associations in New York City to secure the necessary permission before the poster, called "Faces of the Brave," can be sold.

"I haven't contacted the families myself. I'm trying to do that through the unions and personnel departments of the New York City police," he said. "I can remove pictures if families don't want to be a part of the poster, or I could substitute a different photo if they like."

Although Soard hopes to have the poster available next month, attorneys at The Record say copyright licensure could take a long time, if it's granted at all.

"He's just one of 50,000 people who have contacted us for a license to use that firefighter photo," said Jennifer Borg, general counsel for The Record. "He's one man, and we have different priorities right now than worrying about his poster. I do not know whether permission will be granted for that poster."

The three firefighters in the newspaper photo -- Dan McWilliams, George Johnson, and Billy Eisengrein -- have seen a copy of Soard's poster and love it, said their attorney, Bill Kelly of McCarthy & Kelly in Manhattan.

"They really do like it, but it just hasn't gone through the entire approval process yet," Kelly said of the poster proposal. "We're dealing with thousands of requests, but this one stood out. It's really good."