Safe Travels Into the Light

Bridgeport Juvenile Court, Bridgeport, CT

“Safe Travels Into the Light” at the Bridgeport Juvenile Courthouse in Bridgeport, CT softens architecture, considers sensitivity, and change perceptions of place. Wulke’s daughter Gioia recalls her mother coming home after finalizing the installation.

It was inspiring to hear how people responded. A young girl waiting for her brother to come out of court, a difficult time for the whole family, danced in the rainbows of light under the sculpture. A security guard, who had seen so much that families had gone through, made a mixed tape of inspiring songs that made her think of how the courthouse had changed since the installation. We listened to it as a family often. “I believe I Can Fly” was on it, I remember that well.

From the Connecticut Office of the Arts.

Visitors to the Superior Court of Juvenile Matters will be met with a work of art depicting familiar natural phenomenon of the Long Island Sound and sun, moon and sky. The illuminated Bridgeport lighthouse sculpture is inspired by the Seaside Park Lighthouse and symbolizes a beacon of hope for the youth and their families who will be moving through the building.

Safe Travels Into the Light includes recognizable forms that reference Bridgeport's location on Long Island Sound with the illuminated lighthouse at the end of the waterway as a Beacon for all. Fish Figures are suspended among the sparkling water units of stainless steel and dichroic Ecoresin. As your eye moves from the illuminated lighthouse onto the second floor, suspended birds take flight. The birds fly towards forms referencing the sky with sun and moon orbs, wistful clouds, moving air currents, and suggestions of far off stars.

The atrium is filled with light and color with ever-changing patterns of color-filled shadows that move along the walls as they reflect off the artwork. The effects are intended to express the value of collaboration and to provide an ephemeral meditative distraction.

2011