11 January 2025

Festival of Trees at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Due to scheduling difficulties, I pretty much had to sprint through the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art to see the 2024 Festival of Trees exhibit. Fortunately, I’ve already been to the Wadsworth to enjoy its art, so I was able to focus solely on the holiday exhibit.

This is the Wadsworth’s 50th year holding the event. Last year my friend Agnes helped with the event, and her description of it made me want to check it out. If you like holiday cheer, it’s definitely an event for you.

Holiday Glitz and Glamour.
Joy to the World.

The exhibit is also a fundraiser for the museum – the trees (and wreaths, it turns out) are all donated. They are all for sale – but not to be taken home until the event is over.

I was surprised after-the-fact to read that the event had a “golden disco theme” – I did not pick up on that during the event, except for noticing just one tree with a disco-dancing pair on top.

Around 200 trees and wreaths are displayed throughout the first floor galleries, ranging from very traditional to very-non-traditional in style. In some places the trees were so densely packed that it was hard to differentiate one from the other – that’s hardly a complaint, but it did make for some difficult picture taking. Woe is me.

The Mark Twain House Tree in the Goodwin Parlor, which was previously part of an 1874 Victorian Mansion in Hartford. The house was demolished in 1939, with this room rescued, and installed at the Wadsworth in 1944.
Village Wreath.
By the Sea.
Candy Land Christmas (AKA the Jennifer Tree).
Spruced Up Maine Shutter.
Oops, I missed getting the name of this tree.
Pink Miss.
Dancing Queen.
The Nutmeg Ballet’s Nutcracker.
Circle of Love.
Glitz and Glamour 2.
LEGO Tree!
Love and Light.
Reading Tree made of books – one of my faves!
Painting a Colorful Christmas Tree – it has a palette board at the top and paint brush decorations hanging, along with paint can gifts underneath. Very cute.
Golden Stars with ornaments handmade by the Greater Hartford Quilt Guild.
Into the Woods features acorns, twigs, pine cones, and birch swirls handmade into 150 ornaments by the Colchester Garden Club.
Bottoms Up.
Sounds of the Season.
Purple Rain.

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