MA Artist Leaves Mark on Thousands of FFs' Helmet Shields
By Jessica Trufant
Source The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, Mass.
WEYMOUTH, MA— Bob Stella said he was hanging around the Bare Cove Fire Museum in Hingham in 1988 when his friend, a newly appointed deputy fire chief, asked Stella to try his hand at painting a leather shield for the front of his helmet.
Stella said he had never painted anything in his life before then.
"It was pretty rough, but he liked it," Stella said. "He showed it to an Abington chief who wanted one, and then a Duxbury chief. It spread through word of mouth."
In the more than 30 years since then, Stella has painted thousands of helmet shields for firefighters across the country in all 50 states, and even around the world. He is the official helmet shields painter for several fire departments, including New York City and Boston.
Stella said he is one of only a half-dozen or so people across the country who hand-paint helmet shields. And with the reach of social media, the requests come pouring in. His turn-around time is currently about two months, at least, and he said he's booked through the summer.
Last year alone, Stella painted more than 1,100 helmet shields in the small studio next to his home in East Weymouth. The studio is filled with shields, some still in progress and others yet to be started. Various shields he and other artists have painted sit on display, as well as military and fire memorabilia.
"I can't even read my own handwriting, but I sit here and letter all day," Stella, 60, said on a recent afternoon in his studio.
For years, painting shields was a hobby and side gig for Stella. He worked as a freelance photographer for The Patriot Ledger until 1992, when he went on to work for Hingham Public Schools.
Once Stella learned he would serve as the official shield painter for the New York Fire Department, he quit his day job and started painting full time. He said he works about nine hours a day, six-and-a-half days per week.
"I don't know how I ever worked and did this at the same time," he said.
Stella buys the leather shields from a firefighter in Rhode Island. Then he uses sign paint to personalize them with rank, last name, fire department or whatever else is requested. One firefighter requested two Labradors on his shield to represent his dogs, for example.
When he really likes a shield or it's memorable, Stella will paint a duplicate to keep for himself.
"Sometimes I make a shield that I like so much that I don't want to send it," Stella said. "I love doing it."
The background color of each shield is based on rank and he uses to 24-karat gold-leaf sheets for fire chiefs' shields.
Stella has made a few memorial shields during his more than thirty years painting them. He made one for Worcester native Denis Leary for his television show, “Rescue Me," as well as one for President George W. Bush, which he's heard is on display at the presidential library in Texas.
Shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Stella sent a shield to then- New York City Fire Chief Daniel Nigro, who is now the department's commissioner. At the top of the shield, Stella painted the burning Twin Towers with a crying Dalmatian.
Stella said he keeps an eye out for the shields he painted during during fire coverage on the news, including the eight-alarm fire that tore through an apartment building in Queens last week.
"It's like, 'Wow. Those were made by a guy in a tiny house in Weymouth,'" Stella said.
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