by Kris Nesbitt, Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer, Chicago History Museum

For several years, my family bundled up to walk the one-mile path of Illumination, the annual holiday season exhibition at the Morton Arboretum. Icy temperatures and biting wind strained us as we wandered on foot up and down some steep inclines.  I always felt the potential for a spiritual experience surrounded by trees gracefully illuminated with evocative lighting design by Lightswitch, Inc. But with young and aging family in tow, whining and worry diminished the impact. As for “seeing trees in a new light,” the exhibition’s tagline, I sometimes only caught a fleeting glimpse.

This year, with the pandemic raging, Morton Arboretum reimagined Illumination for its eighth season as a socially distanced drive-through experience: six new and five reconfigured displays along a two-mile, 35-minute driving route.

So, barely bundled this time, we headed out to give this reimagined exhibition a try. As we pulled in, signs directed us to tune our radio to a curated soundtrack – and my children called out gleefully as the lights around us began to pulse and change color to the music – a mix of holiday fare from Sinatra to Guaraldi to the Nutcracker.

 Fig. 1

The line of cars crept at 5 mph through the heart of Illumination: nontraditional displays highlighting the beauty of trees in winter. Rather than traditional light strings, techniques such as spotlighting and silhouetting gave each display its own aura. Dapples of laser dots (pixies, my children dubbed them) danced across the trees, bringing our eyes up and across the intersecting branches. Uplighting on trunks accentuated textures. “I never noticed how shaggy and all different bark can be,” one of the kids said.

Laser lights arched through a slight fog, highlighting the architecture of bold, thick trunks and cantilevered branches. “Reminds me of your grandmother always pointing out the strength of tree trunks,” my mother shared, bringing a wave of memory of long forest hikes growing up. 

Brooding music played as we wound our way into a grove draped with sparkling chandeliers (fig. 1), while the upbeat rhythm of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” synced with pulsing, glowing orbs arranged across Ornament Meadow (fig. 2). We returned to see Illumination a second time a month later. This time, the orbs brooded with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the chandeliers twinkled to upbeat music – offering an experience that felt new all over again.

 Fig. 2

Each time we left Illumination, we chatted about trees for much of our journey home. Somehow, driving through warm in our car supported our comfort and removed distractions. Instead of a soundtrack of kids complaining about the cold, my ears took in music that prompted a range of emotional lenses through which to observe. A few subtle, brief voice-overs offered meaningful takeaways amidst the affective, personal experience. 

Illumination gave us a greater appreciation for trees – their details, architecture, inspiration, and value. The reimagined, pandemic-altered exhibition stripped away some of the previous comfort barriers we’d faced and more than delivered on the promise to “see trees in a new light.”