Wadsworth’s Festival of Trees Will Follow Evergreen Theme This Year

HARTFORD — It may be the height of summer, but December’s holiday season is foremost in the minds of the Women’s Committee of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. They are planning the annual “Festival of Trees and Traditions,” which will take place December 4 to 12.

The Women’s Committee invites donations of imaginatively decorated artificial trees, wreaths and garlands, and tabletop items. With a central theme of “The Magic of Art,” this year’s edition of “Festival of Trees and Traditions” – the 31st – promises to be dramatically different.

Contributing designers will find fresh inspiration in the seven new categories of complementary themes:

*Historical: Recapture times past or key events, ancient cultures, inventions or explorations. For example, the Boston Tea Party; the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Aztecs; Colonial America; viniculture and aviation.

*Mother Nature: Celebrate the beauties of nature – a Caribbean coral reef, an orchid and fern filled jungle, autumn in New England, grottos and caverns below the earth’s crust, the heavens above.

*Romance: The look of love has many guises. Whether wrapped in lace and ribbons, or as personified by Cupid, there are many ways to express the heart’s desire – and with a dash of whimsy, too.

*Humor: Make merry!

*World Traditions: Tap into crafts, customs, and folklore from the world over – Japanese origami (paper folding) and Polish wycinanky (paper cutting) are just two suggestions.

*Contemporary: It’s all about composition – color, shape, line, and form.

*Childhood: It’s about freshness, wonder, discovery, and joy. This is an ideal category for entries from school and civic groups.

All donations should be creative and of high quality, as they will be displayed in the art galleries and sold to raise funds for the Wadsworth Atheneum. All applications for contributing items must be received by November 1.

The Festival of Trees & Traditions has been a highlight of the holiday season in Hartford for visitors from across the state and beyond since 1974. The Women’s Committee is an all-volunteer group that was organized in 1950, first conceived as a service organization whose primary purpose was to assist the museum staff with social functions, membership drives and other projects requiring volunteer help.

When it was first held in 1974, the Holiday Festival of Trees generated a $15,000 profit. Over the next decade, the festival brought in over $700,000 in donations and 600,000 visitors to the museum. Women’s Committee members work tirelessly in decorating the museum, getting trees and sponsors, organizing the publicity, printing, and scheduling hundreds of volunteers.

In recent years, the Festival of Trees & Traditions has generated over $200,000 profit for the museum annually.

For Festival of Trees application information contact Amy Redfield at 860-838-4034.