PASADENA, CA.- Wish Tree for Pasadena, Yoko Ono’s only West Coast showing of her celebrated Wish Tree installation, attracted more than 10,000 people in its first week in the One Colorado Courtyard. Attendance far exceeded expectations, with the 21 crape myrtles at the center of this elegant art installation now covered in thousands of wish tags expressing hopes for the future. More wishes are being added at the rate of around 1,200 per day, with 5,000 over the weekend.

Since opening on August 2, Wish Tree for Pasadena has evolved into a multifaceted snapshot into people's hearts, with wishes demonstrating an astounding range of expression. From the whimsical to the sublime, the personal to the global, they tell they story of aspirations, deepest hopes and sometimes humorous observations about the world around us. From a child-like scrawl hoping to "visit dragonland," to wanting a new job, to wishing for "a fearless heart for my daughter," to hoping "for a free panini" or wishing "people wouldn't lie," these fluttering tags express the collective hopes of every age and background.

Wishes from Wish Tree for Pasadena will be joined with others from around the world and placed in specially constructed capsules to be installed in the area surrounding Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island, off the coast of Reykjavík, Iceland. The artwork is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. The tower, a column of light emanating from a stone base with a radius of about 10 meters, is lit for two months each year starting on October 9, John Lennon’s birthday, and ending on December 9, the anniversary of his death. The artwork is also lit at certain other special times during the year. For more information, visit www.imaginepeace.com

Yoko Ono’s influence for Wish Tree is connected to her early childhood experiences in Japan: “As a child, I used to go to a temple and buy a printed paper wish sold at the temple and tie it around the branch of a bush. Bushes in temple courtyards were always filled with people’s wish knots, which looked like white flowers blossoming from afar,” she said.

Once wishes are removed from the trees in November, the 21 crape myrtles, planted in recycled wine barrels, will be donated to the Arlington Garden, a community garden in Pasadena.

Wish Tree has been presented around the world, including the city of Detroit; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Lonja del Pescado, Alicante, Spain; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Samsung Museum, Seoul; the Venice Biennale exhibition; and numerous other venues. Hundreds of thousands of wishes have been collected worldwide.

Wish Tree for Pasadena is on view in the One Colorado Courtyard, located in Old Pasadena in the block bounded by Colorado Boulevard, Fair Oaks, Union and DeLacey. www.onecolorado.com