Sophia Fortuna (Wise Luck) at Dorothea Dix Park, in Raleigh, NC

Sophia Fortuna draws from the traditional Polish art of Pajaki (pronounced pah-YONK-ee), ornamental chandeliers crafted of paper and straw, made to mark moments of celebration and renewal. That idea is transformed into a canopy of suspended spheres that cast shifting color across the landscape. Above them, a great horned owl native to North Carolina keeps quiet watch, grounding the sculpture in the ecology of Dix Park. The work encourages visitors to wander beneath it, look upward, and see how light, shadow, and movement animate the form throughout the day.

Gifted to Dix Park Conservancy by the Raleigh Fine Arts Society and the Betsy J. Sykes Trust.