'More and brighter': Morton Arboretum celebrates 10 years of 'Illumination'
For John Featherstone, the holiday lights display at the Morton Arboretum started as something of a “grand experiment.”
His lighting design set leafless trees aglow in purple and gold as if lit from within. There were no animated reindeer, no giant candy canes at “Illumination,” a restorative, one-mile walk into the arboretum's woods.
“We're big fans of light. We're not so much fans of lights,” Featherstone said.
He's still experimenting with light and the latest tech in nontraditional ways. But he's added extra flourishes to celebrate the centennial of the arboretum in Lisle and the 10th season of “Illumination,” now a holiday staple.
“One of the things that my crew gets tired of hearing me say over and over again is 'more and brighter,'” Featherstone said.
This year's edition of “Illumination” opens Saturday and covers more ground, building to a brilliant finale of laser lights and music in the arboretum's new $16.6 million garden.
The route first loops around Meadow Lake, a calming, re-imagined scene: drifting, mirrored towers send beams of icy blue light in every direction. The effect changes depending on the night.
With a brisk wind, the floating towers create a dynamic light show. A still, glasslike surface reflects the rays of light and surrounding tree groves.
“Part of what's core to 'Illumination' is that we're constantly listening to nature,” Featherstone said. “We're constantly responding to this amazing natural environment.”
His ideas are often rooted in nature. Brightly decorated nests built by bowerbirds — “amazing avian architects” — inspired a fluorescent tunnel approaching the arboretum's new Grand Garden.
“As you go through this tunnel of light, it's getting narrower and narrower and narrower,” Featherstone said. “So if you come out the other side, you kind of take this big breath into the Grand Garden as the space expands in front of you into this amazing vista through the center of the arboretum.”
“Grand” is the operative word here. Featherstone's lighting firm also joined the design team for the garden itself, an homage to the grand gardens of Europe. The linear garden stretches two acres from east to west.
“We've used that viewpoint, this long view to do an entirely different kind of show,” Featherstone said, “to do a show that has space, that has scale, that has dimension, that brings laser technology to 'Illumination.'”
Be sure to look upward. Spotlights and floodlights are meant to train the eye vertically, focusing attention on the sculptural beauty and longevity of trees.
Treemagination, one of the most popular parts of the trail, uses projection mapping to make a static wall of conifers appear to breathe or gently sway from side to side. The display now includes drone footage captured by the arboretum's own tree scientists.
“We kind of get a little meta. We project the skeletons of trees, if you will, back on trees themselves,” he said.
Tree-huggers can go ahead and wrap their arms around a trunk — a sign explicitly says “hug a tree” — to light up its branches. Other playful features are touch-free and more intuitive.
“We've essentially created lighting theremins, so you move your hand in the field of a sensor, and you can literally play and curate lights,” Featherstone said on the eve of the opening. “And I was thrilled last night to watch our younger guests run up to them immediately.”
For adults, “Electric Illumination,” a new late-night event set to trance and progressive house music, has already sold out for its three dates in December. Outdoor speakers are set up throughout “Illumination” and play a wide selection of festive tunes.
“'Illumination' from the get-go has been designed to be something that everybody can enjoy, no matter how you celebrate the holidays, so the music reflects that as well,” Featherstone said.
From the start, “Illumination,” has continued to grow its audience. The light and music spectacle drew 88,000 visitors in its first year. During the 2021-22 season, “Illumination” attracted 227,238 people.
“There are so many wow moments in this exhibition this year that I think people are going to really be amazed,” arboretum spokeswoman Tari Marshall said.
The finale may pack the biggest wow. Blinking, abstract shapes are scattered across the lawn of the Grand Garden.
“We're sort of treating it like a giant birthday party,” Featherstone said. It's a celebration of 100 years of planting and growing trees, “everything that makes the Morton Arboretum the wonderfully unique and inviting space that it is.”
'Illumination: Tree Lights'
Where: Morton Arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle
When: Saturday through Jan. 7. The event is closed Nov. 21, 24 (Thanksgiving), 28; and Dec. 5, 12, 24 (Christmas Eve), and 25 (Christmas Day).
Food: Snacks and hot beverages will be served in two concession tents along the route. S'mores are available for roasting over fire pits.
Tickets: $11-$22 for arboretum members and $16-$27 for visitors
Info: Online at <a href="https://mortonarb.org/explore/activities/exhibitions/illumination/">mortonarb.org</a>, or by calling (630) 725-2066