As you round a bend of the trail in the Conifer Collection, there he is: a majestic, brightly colored deer, standing nearly as tall as the trees around him. This sculpture, called Generosity, is part of the Vivid Creatures sculpture exhibition at The Morton Arboretum.
Although these imaginative artworks were installed in spring 2025, they are part of a decades-long tradition at the Arboretum. Since 2004, visitors have encountered a wide variety of works by various artists that have spent a year or two in its splendid natural settings.
It’s a way to invite people to spend time outdoors among the trees. “We want to help people get out in nature to walk and exercise,” said Preston Bautista, vice president of learning and engagement. If their trip to explore the sculptures also encourages visitors to discover all the rest that the Arboretum offers in its 1,700 acres, all the better.
“Everybody enjoys different aspects of the experience,” said Amy Scott, head of exhibitions. “Some people love the chance to explore art in a natural setting. Some are longtime visitors who are deepening their relationship with the place. Others are just discovering the Arboretum. Some will go on to connect with something else on our grounds, like the Children’s Garden or the walking trails.”
The Arboretum’s sweeping landscape, framed by towering trees, offers artists an unusual opportunity to design art on a grand scale. “Because Generosity is surrounded by trees, he feels more enormous,” Bautista says. “We can’t go too big.”
The Arboretum is a living museum of trees, and all its exhibitions have some link to trees and nature. For example, Vivid Creatures artists Heather BeGaetz and Fez BeGaetz have created playful, whimsical depictions of native woodland animals, including a dragonfly, a squirrel, and a snail in brilliant colors and far larger than life.
The sculpture exhibitions fit into a long Arboretum history of art about nature. Since the 1940s, when artist and teacher May Thielgaard Watts was its first educator, the Arboretum has been a mecca for artists and photographers, offering a variety of classes for artists. Its Sterling Morton Library has a distinguished collection of botanical art dating back hundreds of years.
None of the outdoor sculptures is a permanent fixture at the Arboretum. “We aren’t an art museum,” said Scott. “We don’t have an art collection, like a sculpture park that has curators to care for their artworks in the long term.”
When each exhibition ends, the works are usually returned to the artists. Fabricated in studios as far away as South Africa, they have often been made in pieces to fit on ships and trucks and put together at the Arboretum. At the end, the pieces can be taken apart again for shipping somewhere else.
Some sculptures, like those of the popular Troll Hunt exhibition in 2018-20, are not made to last at all. Those artworks were built onsite from recycled wood, and were always intended to be deconstructed and recycled again at the end of the exhibition. The trolls are no more.
When an exhibition ends, it means another artist has an opportunity to be inspired by the Arboretum’s sweeping natural setting. “Come see these sculptures through the seasons while you can,” Scott said, “because in a couple of years there will be something new to see.”
Here is a look at previous exhibitions that have graced The Morton Arboretum.
