Plan Your Visit

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Make the most of your visit to The Morton Arboretum by planning your day in advance. There’s so much to explore across the Arboretum’s 1,700 acres and so many activities for families and visitors to enjoy. Save on admission, find parking, and see upcoming events with these tips. Learn more about what to expect from the First-Time Visitors Guide.

Purchasing General Admission

The Vivid Creatures exhibition is free and is included in Arboretum general admission. General admission can be purchased online in advance. You can save $2 per ticket when you buy admission tickets online in advance.

Arboretum members can enter the Arboretum any day for free, without purchasing tickets. Become a member today for free admission, discounts on events, and to experience the Vivid Creatures exhibition again and again.

Directions and Parking

The Morton Arboretum is located at 4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle, IL, 60532, and can be reached off of Interstate Highway 88. If arriving by rideshare, arrive at the Arboretum’s main entrance and proceed through the gatehouse.

Parking at The Morton Arboretum is free and included in the cost of general admission.

To enjoy the Vivid Creatures sculpture loop, guests can park in the main parking lot, Parking Lot 1, near the gatehouse and the Visitor Center. Four of the five Vivid Creatures sculptures can be seen along this walking loop. Parking for the fifth sculpture—Spectra, the brittle button snail—can be found at Parking Lot 4. When you visit other parts of the Arboretum, parking can be found in small numbered parking lots along the Main Route driving road.

Food

Food and beverages are available for purchase at the Ginkgo Restaurant and the Ginkgo Café, both located in the Visitor Center.

The Ginkgo Restaurant is a counter-service sit-down restaurant that is open from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Ginkgo Café offers prepackaged salads and sandwiches, bakery items, espresso beverages, hot tea, and drip coffee and is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily throughout the summer.

Picnic tables are available in Arbor Court; on the north side of Meadow Lake; in the Children’s Garden; at the Big Rock Visitor Station (Parking Lot 13); and at the Prairie Visitor Station (Parking Lot 25).

Visiting with Children

The Morton Arboretum encourages outdoor play and nature discovery. Families are welcome to enjoy the award-winning, 4-acre Children’s Garden, which is free with general admission. The Children’s Garden is a nature-based playground with many activities and features for kids of all ages to explore and enjoy. It is just across Arbor Court from the Visitor Center, near the Vivid Creatures walking loop.

Next to the Children’s Garden is the twisting Maze Garden made of living green shrubs. Find the secret path to reach the big sycamore tree in the center for a towering view of the Arboretum’s gardens! Children love to solve the puzzle.

Children under the age of 4 are always admitted to the Arboretum for free. Learn more about Visiting the Arboretum with Children for more tips on how to plan your day.

Accessibility

The Morton Arboretum strives to provide a welcoming experience for all who visit. Four of the Vivid Creatures sculptures are placed along a loop of paved, accessible paths a little less than a mile long. Accessible restrooms are available in the Visitor Center, where the loop begins and ends. The fifth sculpture—Spectra, the brittle button snail—is located on the bern near Interstate Highway 88. Visiting this artwork involves an inclined, wood-chipped trail and a hill. It is inaccessible to wheelchairs.

Most paths and gardens near the Visitor Center are paved and accessible. There are also short paved paths in the farther areas of the Arboretum, at the Big Rock Visitor Station and the Prairie Visitor Station. Learn more about Accessibility at The Morton Arboretum to plan your visit. Contact the Visitor Services team at (630) 968-0074 with any questions or accommodation needs.

Things to Do

There’s always something to do at The Morton Arboretum. Stop in at the Vivid Creations Art Workshop on Saturdays and Sundays in the Children’s Garden or play a round of mini golf at Wonder Woods. Attend one of the many family-friendly special events hosted throughout the summer and explore the gardens and woodlands throughout the Arboretum grounds.

No matter how you spend your day, every visit to The Morton Arboretum has something new and exciting to offer.

Find the Vivid Creatures

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View and download the map.

Four of the larger-than-life animal sculptures in Vivid Creatures are now on display—three of which are located along the paved, ADA-compliant paths near the Visitor Center. The final sculpture, Nimbly, modeled after a blue dasher dragonfly, will go on display June 2 following a few repairs.

Scamp

Curious, clever, and full of charm—Scamp stands 8 feet tall and holds a walnut like she’s ready for a game of hide and seek. Modeled after a fox squirrel, she reminds us that squirrels are the sculptors of the forest, shaping future woodlands as they stash seeds and acorns.

Scamp can be found in Arbor Court outside the Visitor Center.

Generosity

Generosity is modeled after a white-tailed deer. Towering at 22 feet tall with antlers like branches and roots reaching deep, Generosity is more than a sculpture—he’s a symbol of how life in nature is deeply connected. He hosts creatures in his antler branches, and life in his leaves and roots.

Generosity can be found along the Conifer Walk south of the Children’s Garden and The Gerard T. Donnelly Grand Garden.

Cadence

Graceful and soaring, Cadence carries the rhythm of migration and moonlight. Modeled after a sandhill crane, her wingspan stretches 26 feet wide. She bears a glowing full moon on her chest —a quiet reminder of how our own journeys have long been guided by the rhythms of nature.

Cadence can be found on the south side of Meadow Lake Trail.

Spectra

Delicate, dazzling, and full of wonder—Spectra invites a closer look. Modeled after a brittle button snail, Spectra wears a shell that shimmers like a prism, highlighting the hidden beauty of life at our feet. Though brittle button snails are small in nature, Spectra is 16 feet tall.

Spectra can be found on the berm near Parking Lot 4 following an inclined, wood-chipped trail.

Nimbly

Poised on a blade of prairie grass is Nimbly, a blue dasher dragonfly. He spans an incredible 30 feet across and 23 feet tall, embossed with a green frog and a goldfinch—creatures who share his vibrant world.

Nimbly will be installed on the north side of Meadow Lake Trail on Monday, June 2, following a few repairs.

Accessibility

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Four of the larger-than-life animal sculptures in Vivid Creatures are now on display—three of which are located along the paved, ADA-compliant paths near the Visitor Center. The final sculpture, Nimbly, modeled after a blue dasher dragonfly, will go on display Monday, June 2, following a few repairs.

Visiting the fifth sculpture—Spectra, the brittle button snail—on the berm by Interstate Highway 88 requires a short drive to Parking Lot 4 or a mile and a half walk from the Visitor Center and up an inclined, wood-chipped trail. This path is not accessible to wheelchairs.

Two of the sculptures—Cadence (crane) and Nimbly (dragonfly)—are visible from a car along the Arboretum’s East Side Main Road. Spectra (snail) can also be seen from a car along Interstate Highway 88, east of Interstate 53.

Parking Lot 1 features accessible parking spaces and is close to the Visitor Center and Meadow Lake Trail where four of the sculptures can be found. The accessible parking spaces and pathways from Parking Lot 1 to the Visitor Center feature smooth pavers and are accessible to wheelchairs. The distance from the furthest parking spot to the main entrance of the Visitor Center is one-quarter of a mile.

Accessible restrooms are available in the Visitor Center, at the beginning and end of the main Vivid Creatures loop.

For more information about planning an accessible visit, learn more about Accessibility at The Morton Arboretum.

Events and Programs

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Make the most of your visit to The Morton Arboretum by enjoying events and programs offered this summer. From nature-inspired art programs and family-friendly activities, there’s something for everyone to enjoy during a day at the Arboretum.

Vivid Creations Workshop

Children and families can create their own works of art inspired by Vivid Creatures in the free drop-in, Vivid Creations Art Workshop hosted in the Arboretum’s Children’s Garden. Open on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer, the workshop will include materials inspired by different Vivid Creatures sculptures, from the wide, feathery wings of Cadence, the sandhill crane, to the shiny, colorful shell of Spectra, the brittle button snail.

Wonder Woods Mini Golf

Wonder Woods Mini Golf returns to The Morton Arboretum starting Friday, May 23! From giant mushrooms to larger-than-life bugs and acorns, Wonder Woods brings the Arboretum’s tree science to life in fun and unexpected ways. Mini golf tickets must be purchased in advance in addition to Arboretum general admission. Tickets for time slots through September 1 will be available to Arboretum members on Thursday, May 1, and on sale to all on Thursday, May 15.

Nature Play for All

On Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1, children of all abilities can play and explore nature through accessible activities in The Morton Arboretum’s Children’s Garden during the special Nature Play for All weekend event. Activities include creative nature art, seed planting, bilingual storytimes, pond exploration, and sensory hikes. Nature Play for All is included in Arboretum general admission.

The Children’s Garden

Near the Visitor Center and the Vivid Creatures loop is The Morton Arboretum’s Children’s Garden. Open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily, this 4-acre playground and nature play space has activities and features to delight children and families of all ages. New interactive features and exciting, fun events make the Children’s Garden worth visiting again and again. Entrance to the Children’s Garden is free and included with Arboretum general admission.

Special Events

Throughout the summer, the Arboretum hosts family-friendly events from concerts to cultural festivals. Vivid Creatures will be open and viewable during each event. Plan a visit to experience these fun, upcoming activities:

• Arbor Evenings, Wednesdays throughout the summer starting May 28
• Pizza Party with Jules, Thursday, June 26
• Noche de Familia, Thursday, July 13
• Destination Asia, Saturday, August 2, and Sunday, August 3
• Celebración de los Árboles, Saturday, September 27, and Sunday, September 28

About the Artists

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Heather BeGaetz and Fez BeGaetz are partners in life and art. The duo creates large-scale sculptures and environments that have been exhibited internationally at numerous immersive art destinations, art and music festivals, conferences, and urban spaces. They live and work near the shores of the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, on the unceded lands of Chinook and Kalapuya people. They have a daughter, Calliope.

Together, Fez and Heather love to make works that people can experience from afar, up close, or underneath.

In her sculptural works, Heather BeGaetz creates enormous art beings that invite people to take sanctuary in wonder and enter worlds of imagination. Her creative roots in the performing arts as a theatrical writer, director, performer, and mask-maker inform her large-scale sculptures and immersive art environments.

Fez BeGaetz integrates a lifetime of building skills with explorations at the edge of his imagination into fantastical large-scale art. He is skilled at designing for modularity in large-scale works while bringing a maverick creative agility to engineering, fabrication, and installation challenges. Honed by over a decade of experience as an Antarctica expedition guide, his creative intelligence is shaped by the artful forces of ice, wind, and the sea.

Behind the Build

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How are these large-scale sculptures 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 monumental sculptures in Vivid Creatures, the new art exhibition 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 will assemble the pieces together and paint 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. The painted surfaces will then be then sealed for durability and be ready for their debut.

See the sculptures yourself by visiting The Morton Arboretum.

Frequently Asked Questions