Art / Projects > Gumdrop Trees in Skokie

Three thousand gumdrops were skewered onto the thorns of three hawthorne trees in the Skokie Sculpture Park. A suburb north of Chicago, the Village of Skokie had a predominantly Jewish population after WW2 through the 1970s, and it is infamous as the site of a rally by the National Socialist Party of America (a Neo-Nazi group) that was allowed after a Supreme Court decision addressing the First Amendment right to assemble, a case which ultimately the Village lost.

The candy installation, with donated gumdrops courtesy of Favorite Brands International, during the frigid winter of 1999 lent a Candyland atmosphere to this small section of the large park.