Local metal artist installs artwork for fire department based upon 1890 photo

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) -The Grand Junction Fire Station 6 installed a new piece of artwork. The artwork is based on an 1890 photograph showing a horse and mule pulling a ladder wagon. The photo was blown up and traced onto steel and was then cut by hand with a plasma cutter.

The art piece is about 16 feet long and weighs 1,000 pounds. The fire department commissioned local artist Jeff Bates to create it.

Bates states it’s his largest piece ever, “I know it’s going to be here long after I’m gone. So, you start thinking about how long it could possibly be here, could be another 100 years, you don’t know, but I know they’ll take good care of it here, so it’s liable to last a long time.”

The work of Bates is displayed around the valley, like the statues in the roundabout at the Fruita exit.

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