2023 USA Tree at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

Presenting the 2023 USA Tree, part of
Christmas Around the World & Holidays of Light,
at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
The exhibit runs from November 18, 2023 through
January 7, 2024, and is free (with museum admission).

Below is the 2023 USA Tree, still in its workshop location,
having just been completed by The Friends of the USA Tree.
Views from other sides are shown farther down on this webpage.

All the ornaments on this year's USA Tree (except for the crystal icicles) have been hand-made by members of THE FRIENDS OF THE USA TREE, using assorted materials and techniques. They include crochet, ribbon embroidery, velvet, wood, enamel, glass, basketry, sequins, and beads. There are 2 sets of 50-state ornaments: one wood, and the other glass-fired enamel. There are also over 100 crocheted snowflakes, all of which are different. The eagle landing on the top of the tree has 125 pieces made from 5 different woods.

To see the progress of the tree over the past few seasons, as well as close-up photos of all the ornaments, click the links for the years. Each page also has photos of the completed tree, which show the sequin balls, baskets, icicles, and the workers assembling the stunning visual affect.

2022 [Including photos of the 55 (!) enamel state birds-and-flowers]

***Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 tree was a duplicate of the 2020 tree***

2020 [Including photos of the 50 wood states, and many sequin balls]

2019 [Including a photo of our work-area, and also the back of the tree]

2018 [Including photos of additional Star Boxes, and the tree from Mars]

2017 [Including a photo looking down from the top, and the new tree-skirt]

2016 [Including photos of Star Boxes, and Santa's auxiliary workshop]

2015 [Including the baskets, sequin balls, and the tree-skirt]

2014 [Including photo of the Eagle Tree-Topper, and the 8 toy-filled stockings]

2013 [Including the 50 needlepoint state squares in hand-made frames]

2012 [Including quilted items, and ornaments made of tin and metal]

2011 [Including 51 (!) egg-shaped state vignettes]

The webpages have been prepared by Bruce Duffie.

Doing the work of carefully placing
and hanging all the ornaments.

work

While the Museum theme this year is the
Science of Snow, featuring photographs of real
snowflakes taken by a physicist from Caltech,
the USA Tree has had a collection of crocheted
snowflakes for the past several years.
As in the outside world, no two are alike!

Here are many of them . . . . .

The next three groups of hand-made
ornaments are brand new this year!
The creators are Andy Kuby, Aaron Schroeder,
Phil Schroeder, Johanna Di Gioia, and Kathy Cunningham.
Kathy has participated in the USA Tree since 2010, and
has organized it since 2014. She has also made
many of the ornaments over those years.

More photos of the 2023 USA Tree

From the balcony at the Grand Opening of the Exhibit,
the USA Tree can be located in the photo below by
looking for the Eagle Tree-Topper, just left of
center, and to the right of the 'Green Stairs' sign.

2023 USA Tree

The next ornament has been on the
USA Tree for several years,
and is very special.

This year's group of The Friends of the USA Tree.
(left to right) Johanna Di Gioia, Carla Miller, Tony Chen,
David Di Gioia, Kathy Cunningham, Tanaka Rawls,
Grace Viner, Brethney Neil, and Aaron Schroeder.
Kathy is holding the eagle, which, along with the two American
flags, was placed at the top of the tree by a member of the
Museum Staff when the tree was moved to its exhibition location.