Situated along Juneau’s cruise ship birth the suite of ten sculptures defines how visitors and the community meet the water’s edge. The sculptures are installed on existing bollards that were formally used to tie up cruise ships along the waterfront from Marine Park to the Mt. Robert’s Tramway building. The inspiration for Aquileans sculptural form is archetypes of the Alaskan landscape including two iconic ecological shapes, a whale fluke and an eagle’s wings in flight. Aptly titled, Aquileans is a combination of the Latin words for eagle and whale. Each sculpture reflects and refracts sunlight during the day and at night are illuminated with a program of color changing LED lights reminiscent of the Aurora borealis northern lights phenomena. Set against the landscape of mountains and ocean the sculptures create a recognizable character for the waterfront and bring a contemporary aesthetic to the social and economic life of Juneau.
