The Vermont Fire Academy recently added a new training facility. The addition of the new building included the installation of a series of permanent sculptures titled, Tools of Command. Works of art were commissioned through the Vermont Art in State Buildings Program.Gregory Miguel Gómez of Newtonville, MA and Putney, VT was chosen as the lead artist for this public art project. Gómez is a painter and sculptor from a family of physicians and scientists. He has lived many places: Buffalo, New York, Detroit, Michigan, Havana Cuba, and Rochester, Minnesota before ultimately moving to Boston and Vermont. He received his undergraduate degree from Grinnell College and an MFA from Washington University, in St. Louis, Missouri. He has taught at the Maryland Institute, in Baltimore Maryland; The Rhode Island School of Design; and Wellesley College, before coming to Wheelock College, in Boston.
The Art in State Buildings Program is a partnership between the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services. Funded by the Art in State Buildings Act, the program allows up to two capital construction projects be selected each year. Site-specific works of art are chosen by Local Review Committees that are made up of agency and community representatives and visual art experts. Selection criteria includes “. . . high artistic merit and inherent quality of work; and demonstrated experience and ability to work with design professionals, engineers, community leaders, and other artists within a collaborative team context.”
For more information on the Vermont Fire Academy project or other public art projects, visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.
