How are the large-scale sculptures in the new Vivid Creatures exhibition made? Working with a small team at their studio in Portland, Oregon, artists Fez BeGaetz and Heather BeGaetz spent many months designing, planning, and fabricating the five monumental sculptures debuting at The Morton Arboretum.

The sculptures began in the imagination of the artists, inspired by wildlife they encountered on a visit to The Morton Arboretum. They used digital design software to analyze their detailed drawings and determine the underlying structure and materials needed to fabricate the sculptures. Because the artworks have to be transported from the artists’ studio in Portland, Oregon, they were designed in modules that would fit on a truck and could be assembled at the Arboretum.

Inside each sculpture is a supporting armature made of sheet metal and connecting rods that you might think of as a skeleton. The steel used in the sculptures is 80 percent recycled. To make the armatures, steel sheets were cut to a precise shape, held in position by a wooden scaffold, and then welded in place.

Next, the artists packed crumpled aluminum foil around the armatures, attaching it with hot glue, to provide a stable base for the sculpting medium that would form the final surface. The foil flexes slightly as the sculpting medium dries, helping to prevent cracks.

For the outer surface of the sculptures, the artists used a cement-based sculpting medium that could be spread smoothly over the aluminum-foil shapes. The sculpting medium was used to create the most intricate details. After about two days of open-air curing, this material is fully weatherproof and hard as stone.

The designs of the sandhill crane and the dragonfly sculptures required special consideration. The crane’s wings were constructed feather by feather from sheet metal. For the dragonfly, the artists created a framework from steel square tubing that references the veined and membranous wings of real dragonflies.

After curing, the sculptures were coated with white primer and carefully packaged and shipped to be assembled and installed at The Morton Arboretum.

Once at the Arboretum, the artists and their team assembled the pieces together and painted them to imaginatively evoke characteristics of the animals: the vivid colors of a snail’s iridescent shell, feathers reflected in the surface of water, or the playfulness of creatures scattering acorns through the forest.

Learn more about the Vivid Creatures exhibition and see these giant, colorful sculptures as tall as trees by visiting The Morton Arboretum.

Your visitation and membership supports the Arboretum’s vision of a greener, healthier, more beautiful world where people and trees thrive together.