Patrick Dougherty at the Bosque School

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Patrick Dougherty
October 5 - 25, 2009

Combining his carpentry skills with his love for nature, Patrick Dougherty began to learn more about primitive techniques of building and to experiment with tree saplings as construction material. In 1982 his first work, MapleBodyWrap was included in the North Carolina Biennial Artists' Exhibition sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Art. In the following year, he had his first one person show entitled, Waiting It Out In Maple at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His work quickly evolved from single pieces on conventional pedestals to monumental scale environments which required saplings by the truckloads. During the last two decades, he has built over 150 works throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. -from the LAND/ART website


Patrick Dougherty's artist statement for the work at the Bosque School:
One of the hallmarks of my installation work is finding the saplings for construction in the vicinity of the site where the sculpture will be built. So when I arrived at the Bosque school in Albuquerque for a site visit, I was thrilled to see the groves of willow, tamarisk and cottonwood saplings growing along a waterway right behind the school. As it turns out, a Bosque is a forest confined to a flood plain in an arid landscape, and the Bosque adjacent to the school serves as an excellent outdoor classroom. Not only will the students at the school help with the sculpture's construction, but the finished work will entwine with a huge cottonwood tree already central to campus life. This tree provides the shade for outdoor lunch and sits as the gateway between civilization and the untamed natural world only a few hundred yards away. I look forward to working with the Bosque school to create a compelling sapling sculpture in October 2009.

View a french video of the work here.

Read about Patrick's work at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania.

Learn more at stickwork.net