‘Tis the season for decorated trees, and the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg has that more than covered.
The museum is celebrating the holidays with trees both big and small, scattered around the building and all carefully decorated to match each exhibit. There are so many trees the staff isn’t quite sure of the number, which changes day by day.
As always, there’s the massive folk art tree at the heart of the museum, a 16-foot behemoth featuring around 2,000 homemade ornaments from across the Historic Triangle and the country. The tradition of the tree dates to 1975, when former first lady Betty Ford decorated the White House’s tree with folk art ornaments.
This year, the museum is taking the tradition to new heights.
In one room, which focuses on the works of Pennsylvania artist Edward Hicks, the snow-frosted tree has several kinds of hand-painted ornaments featuring animals. In another room, centered on children’s toys, the brightly colored tree has garlands of fuzzy, multicolored balls and small plastic doll house furniture.
For gallery learning manager Christina Westenberger, expanding the museum’s holiday offerings has been a way to give guests the best possible experience.
“Having an opportunity at night in this building is cool,” she said. “If you get a chance to pop over, pop over one day just at 5 o’clock and the light in the building changes. When you throw in those twinkly lights, there’s something very magical about it. I know that sounds silly, but museums at night are just kind of fun.”
Beyond just looking nice for the holidays, the various trees are also a crucial element of the museum’s Wednesday night program called the Tree Trek.
The museum, which is normally open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., stays open an extra three hours on Wednesdays, giving visitors the opportunity to experience the exhibits at night.
The Tree Trek allows visitors to take a self-guided tour and locate all of the trees in the building, learning about the meaning behind each one. On each tree is a special ornament, which visitors find on a type of scavenger hunt.
“We wanted each tree to be reflective of the gallery,” Westenberger said. “The hope is that the guests come in and…they make a connection.”
Putting everything together was a huge undertaking for Westenberger’s entire team, from the brainstorming process to finding and making the ornaments to the actual decorating process. The big tree alone takes two days to complete, and Westenberger still finds herself fiddling with the placement of the ornaments every time she passes by.
One of the most fun aspects are all of the stories tied to the ornaments, which have been collected by the museum over the decades.
A few years ago, Westenberger got a letter from a man who said he was watching a special on Williamsburg with his mother when the camera zoomed in on the Christmas tree. There, they saw a paper-cut ornament his mother had once cut.
“It was just one of those things where you’re standing there reading this and thinking, ‘Oh my God,'” Westenberger said.
Some ornaments, like the paper-cut ones, were made and given to the museum, some were made for other collections, and some, Westenberger said, simply show up on the tree without a word from anyone.
“When it comes to the end of the season and we disassemble the Christmas tree,” she said, “chances are we’ll find two or three ornaments that we did not put on the tree.”
Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616
