Reinventing Light Therapy
Marlene Krueger’s life-long vision of creating a device that uses light to heal is her calling. When she was just six, she spent her days exploring the family ranch, surrounded by rows of sweet peas that sparkled in the sunlight. As the peas glowed, she felt a calming change, like the pods were whispering to her.
One day, a beam of light seemed to reach out, as if to reassure her. She picked up a translucent pod, and it felt like a connection with nature embracing her, and the pain she had felt before, vanished. From that moment on, she was determined to recreate that magical experience with others.
At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the top schools in the world, Marlene Krueger was determined to bring her vision to life. She wanted to invent a type of lumia light, just like the one she had imagined as a child, when her experience with pain went away.
In 1986, Marlene Krueger developed a prototype of her vision. A course in Kinetics, Electronics and Neon inspired her to proceed. Her dream of giving people the chance to heal through light therapy is about to actualize.
To make her dream a reality, she called Dr. Billy Kluver in New York. She saw a phone number in a magazine that listed his work with machines that move, and kinetic light. He was known for working with many pop artists in New York.
At first Marlene thought a receptionist would answer the phone, but instead, she spoke with Dr. Billy Kluver, himself, an engineer at Bell Laboratories who empathized with the pop artist requesting his expertise in engineering with their kinetic light devices. Marlene talked for almost an hour about everything under the sun, sharing her purpose in life.
Billy Kluver was so impressed with Marlene that he invited her to meet with him in New York City, along with his wife Julie Martin, a contributing writer with “Art in America.” She wrote many of Dr. Kluver’s experiments with a broad spectrum of kinetic light confiding with famous pop artists in the 1960s.
Marlene mentioned she could make it during Christmas break, and that was the plan. Dr. Kluver also gave her the number for Earl Riebeck, the inventor of the infinity mirror that was shown in “Star Trek.” He suggested Marlene call him up, and he’d be happy to share some of his insights. So Marlene did, and they actually talked for hours. Later, he invited her to visit him in New York City so he could show her all his inventions. She went.
Her trip to New York was unforgettable. The experience in New York sparked Marlene to devise a more advanced prototype.
After Marlene finished a prototype she allowed herself to test it out with her professors at the Art Institute, as well as city-wide high school teachers and college students who were at risk.
During her final year, she was determined to keep her dream alive. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Immediately she was invited to present and talk about her work with colleges in auditoriums filled with 4-500 people. In addition, her work was recognized, and she received an invitation to exhibit her prototypes and large-scale installations at a gallery located at Merchandise Mart, in downtown Chicago.
