Vermont Public is independent, community-supported media, serving Vermont with trusted, relevant and essential information. We share stories that bring people together, from every corner of our region. New to Vermont Public? Start here.

© 2024 Vermont Public | 365 Troy Ave. Colchester, VT 05446

Public Files:
WVTI · WOXM · WVBA · WVNK · WVTQ · WVTX
WVPR · WRVT · WOXR · WNCH · WVPA
WVPS · WVXR · WETK · WVTB · WVER
WVER-FM · WVLR-FM · WBTN-FM

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@vermontpublic.org or call 802-655-9451.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

VPR's coverage of arts and culture in the region.

Rutland Announces New Public Sculpture Series

Courtesy

Organizers in Rutland hope public sculptures will attract visitors and help celebrate the region’s long ties to the marble industry. 

Green Mountain Power and local real estate developer Mark Foley are underwriting the first of what they hope will be a series of public art installations in Rutland. Foley’s company, MKF Properties, has restored multiple downtown buildings in recent years.

In a press release, Foley said, “Public arts projects add to a sense of community, can celebrate history and can become unique attractions that together can draw people to a community or downtown ... This project will do all three.”

Steve Costello, vice president for generation and energy innovation at Green Mountain Power, says the new public art series is an offshoot of the utility’s Rutland Blooms project, which Costello helped launch in 2013. That program has spearheaded efforts to plant flowers, shrubs and flowering trees across the city.

Costello says in addition to funding from GMP, he expects private donors to pay for many of the installations.

“My hope is over the next six to 10 years to do somewhere in the vicinity of 10 to 12 sculptures. Some of them may be bronze,” said Costello. “We actually have one of the leading bronze studios in North America in West Rutland, so we really want to use local talent as much as possible and some of the resources that we have right here in our backyard.”

Costello said the first statue will be a 10-ton life-sized figure of a stone carver designed by artist Steve Shaheen. Three artisans from Italy will craft the statue at West Rutland’s Carving Studio this summer.

The stone will be brought from Vermont Quarries’ Danby site in late July, with the Italians arriving Aug. 13.

The work should be complete by Sept. 9, and will be installed in downtown Rutland in October. The press release says organizers are working with city leaders to choose an exact site for the sculpture.

One in five Vermonters is considered elderly. But what does being elderly even mean — and what do Vermonters need to know as they age? I’m looking into how aging in Vermont impacts living essentials such as jobs, health care and housing. And also how aging impacts the stuff of life: marriage, loss, dating and sex.
Latest Stories