A Hartford school was on lock-in as the bomb squad responded to the Old North Cemetery on Main Street to investigate what turned out to be an art project.
The bomb squad was called to investigate what was described as a can with wires sticking out.
The art project is called "Lighten Up: A Public Art Project," is actually a series of public light-based artworks that museum MATRIX 164 artist Jan Tichy and the Amistad Center for Art & Culture’s Teen Advisory Group created together.
A police source said the city had approved the art project but something was lost in communication.
The exhibit includes a sculptural work at St. Francis Hospital that uses cool colors to evoke a sense of calm among patients and their families, a work at the YMCA that emphasizes the ways that the tragedy of the Trayvon Martin case has resonated with people around the country, as well as installations at Sigourney Square Park and the empty pedestal in Aaron Fein Square.
One piece at Old North Cemetery, called VIP Flowers, is made of LEDs, cloth flowers, a plastic tablecloth, vellum and wire. The message behind the piece is that the cemetery and its grounds should be treated with the same respect as the important people buried there.
Another piece is an untitled work depicting a bird made from LEDs, metal, wire and spray paint. It encourages people to view the cemetery as a beautiful and peaceful place.
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The third work is "Paths of Fireflies," made of LEDs and placed of the gravestone of the founder of the American School for the Deaf. In this piece, a quote flickers in Morse code.
Classes at SAND School were conducted as usual, but no one was allowed in or out of the building while the investigation was going on. The school, for students in kindergarten through grade 8, is located at 1750 Main St., close to the cemetery. Parents were then told they could pick up their children.
Hartford Police responded to the cemetery around 10 a.m.
Firetrucks and ambulances had left the scene as of 12:20 p.m. and traffic can again travel on Main Street.
