About Patrick

Born in Oklahoma in 1945, Dougherty was raised in North Carolina. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina in 1967 and an M.A. in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa in 1969. Later, he returned to the University of North Carolina to study art history and sculpture.

Combining his carpentry skills with his love of nature, Patrick began to learn more about primitive techniques of building and to experiment with tree saplings as construction material. In 1982 his first work, Maple Body Wrap, 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, Waitin’ 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 environmental works, which required saplings by the truckloads. Over the last thirty-some years, he has built over 300 of these works, and become internationally acclaimed. His sculpture has been seen worldwide---from Scotland to Japan to Brussels, and all over the United States.

He has received numerous awards, including the 2011 Factor Prize for Southern Art, North Carolina Artist Fellowship Award, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship, Japan-US Creative Arts Fellowship, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Princeton Architectural Press published a major book about Patrick and his work in 2009. This monograph, Stickwork, has received excellent reviews and is available at www.stickwork.net.

Contact dorothy@stickwork.net for a copy of Patrick's CV

Contact dorothy@stickwork.net for a complete list of Patrick's Installations

About Sam

Born and raised in North Carolina, Sam Dougherty earned his bachelor’s degree from Warren Wilson College with ceramics as his special interest.  He is an avid gardener and tree lover and is currently establishing a homestead in Stokes County, NC.  His renovation of the old farmhouse and outbuildings relies heavily on lumber cut and milled on Patrick’s Chapel Hill acreage. 

Sam has been Patrick’s full-time construction assistant since June 2016, and has developed into an expert stickworker.   His signature can be found on every sculpture, especially in the rolled top edges.