The Board of Trustees of the Virginia Capitol Foundation announced that the long-anticipated statue of Thomas Jefferson was dedicated on Friday, May 4, 2012. The Executive Committee of the 2007 Virginia Capitol Restoration and Extension Project charged the Virginia Capitol Foundation with the task of commissioning an original work of art representing Thomas Jefferson, the architect of the Virginia Capitol. Three distinguished Virginians – Tom Farrell, Bill Goodwin, Brent Halsey and their families – stepped forward to fund the project which has taken just over a year to complete. Ivan Schwartz, co-founder of StudioEIS, was tapped by the Foundation to create the original full-length bronze image. The statue, on permanent display in the Capitol Extension, serves as a guidepost, beckoning the more than 100,000 annual visitors to enter America’s first monument to democracy.